In The Long Run
by MASC
Summary: Stephanie fights to save her boyfriend and their relationship when enemies conspire to tear them apart for a greater cause while a dark secret hangs over Sportacus and his family. A zany musical based on the songs of the Eagles. 3rd in the Trinity series.
1. The Heat Is On

_**A/N: Hola amigos. I now bring you the 3**__**rd**__** part in the epic Trinity series. Expect this one to take a darker tone later on. **_

_**MUSIC NOTE: This story WILL be a musical. All songs are from the Eagles and from some of the individual artists who made up the band . (Henley, Frey, Walsh) Also, lyrics from some of the songs will be slightly altered to fit the story. **_

**PROLOGUE**

Darkness filled the halls of the temple, where a lost city awaited the four figures who lurked around in the shadows. A minor crack of light in the distance soon gave way to the trail that would lead them to the front gates. Three of the figures hurried down the copper plated path while the fourth lingered on behind, restrained from those that weighed him down.

"Hey, you guyth!" A lisped voice rang out across the hall. "Quit moving tho fatht! I can't keep up with ya!"

"Yo, doc! Keep movin', will youse!?" Said a squeaky yet gruff voice.

"_You_ try running with all thith crap loaded on your back!"

"I don't run, I sprint!"

"Oh, I thee how it ith! Packing too much fudge, huh?"

"Hey, shut up!"

"_You_ schut up!"

"Gentlemen, please!" An older, more refined voice silenced the other two. "Must you two bicker so much!?"

"Thorry."

"My bad."

"Good." The old man said as he rustled through his belongings. "I think we're here now. Everyone take a flare stick and turn them on."

After a few moments, sparks of red and yellow illuminated the entire hall, where Astral, Bob, the Professor and Dramatik stood in front of a large, circular doorway made entirely of gold. The pictures and markings on the hull confused the men except Astral, who easily translated the entire scripture aloud to his companions.

"It simply says for us to enter at our own risk." The old man explained. "That only those with a key may enter without harm or malice inflicted upon them."

"Well what are we waitin' for!?" Bob hopped on the old man's shoulder. "Let's open up that bad boy!"

"Very well."

Astral reached into his cloak and pulled out the gold key, which still remained at the end of a thin chain. He leaned towards the door and inserted the key into its proper place, gently turning it to the right and awaiting the sound of the gears clicking. A gentle pop almost startled the man but he knew the door was now open. With a heavy sigh of relief, he then pulled away from the door and watched as it rolled over to the left on its own and revealed a shimmering glimpse of hope he and his companions so desperately needed.

"Holy…" Bob's jaw dropped.

"Thun of a…" The Professor gasped.

"Ye Gods!" Dramatik went into another funk. "Never before have mine eyes laid upon such a glorious sight as this! It's as though my soul has been renewed and cleansed much like the pagans of yore. I bow gratefully to its presence and offer my services as--"

"SHUT UP!" They all screamed.

"All right, my friends." Astral stepped forward. "Let's see what's in there."

"**In The Long Run"**

_**Twenty years after "Who Do You Love?"**_

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…**_Nah, I'm just kidding. It's only one year. :_P**

Inside a familiar looking airship that stood watch over all of LazyTown, a pink-haired girl got out of bed and quickly hit the showers. When she was done, she headed for one of the wall panels and activated the closet mechanism, where her pink hero outfit awaited her. After slipping it on, she stepped out onto one of the ship's monitor platforms and waited patiently for any type of disturbance that may require her services.

"Well…" She shrugged. "I guess there's nothing to worry ab--"

"HEEELLLLLP!" A familiar voice cried out.

"Uh-huh." The pink-haired girl looked down on the crystal that was blaring on her chest. "Time to go to work."

With a confident nod, the now 17 year old Stephanie front-flipped her way off of the ship and dived straight into action as the pressure of the wind pushed her hair back.

"Sky chaser!" She yelled, releasing the ship's miniature transport vessel.

Stephanie twirled around and managed to hop on the machine, piloting it towards the ground. Once there, she ran across the streets and leapt over a wall then heard the cry again.

"STEPHANIE! HEEELLLP!"

"I'm coming!" She shouted back, heading for the playground.

It was there when she noticed her younger friends, Ritchie and Gloria, were trapped on an out of control merry-go-round. She could see the foundations of the ride were starting to give out as it shot out several nuts and bolts from the platform. Wasting no time, the girl in pink reached for a long, thick rope in her pack and lassoed one end to a tree branch and hurried over with the other end to the ride.

She took advantage of the ride's constant circular motion and used it to wrap the other end of the rope around the handle bars. It was only a matter of time until the pressure of the tree forced the merry-go-round to stop and when it did, Gloria and Ritchie went flying out of their seats.

"Oh no!" Stephanie gasped.

With her quick thinking and agility, Stephanie sprung into the air and caught the two children in her arms and landed them safely on the ground.

"Wow! Thanks, Stephanie!" Ritchie hugged his friend.

"Yeah, thanks!" Gloria did the same.

"No problem, guys." She smiled. "After all, that's what I'm here for!"

"Gee, Steph. You're always doing nice things for us. How can we ever make it up to you?"

"Just be more careful, okay?"

"Sure, Steph!" Ritchie giggle.

"I mean it, guys. Now that it's summer, there's no telling what could happen. But don't worry! Because I'll be looking out for you! For everyone!"

It was then when an upbeat song came into place and Stephanie started to sing to the two young children:

"_The heat is on. On the street. _

_Inside your head. On every beat. _

_And the beat's so loud. Deep inside. _

_The pressure's high. Just to stay alive. _

'_Cause the heat is on."_

She then twirled around and tap-danced to the music, entertaining the kids and continuing her song:

"_Oh-whoa-ho, Oh-whoa-ho. _

_Caught up in the action, I'll be looking out for you. _

_Oh-whoa-ho, Oh-whoa-ho. _

_Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it? _

_The heat is on. The heat is on-on. The heat is on. _

_Oh, it's on the street. The heat is--"_

_**CRASH! **_

BOOM!

BANG! 

_**POW!**_

" _On!" _

As the music got more festive and exciting, more and more children showed up to dance with their resident hero. Stephanie smiled and led them in a simple dance routine under the blazing sun while her song went on:

"_Oh-whoa-ho, oh-whoa-ho. _

_Caught up in the action, I'll be looking out for you._

_Oh-whoa-ho, oh-whoa-ho. _

_Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it?_

_The heat is on. Yeah! The heat is on-on. The heat is on._

_Burning, burning, burning. _

_It's on the street. Whoo-hoo! The heat is…"_

_**CRASH! **_

BOOM!

BANG!

POW! 

"_On!_

_The shadows are on the darker side. _

_Behind those doors, it's a wilder ride. _

_You can make or break. You can win or lose. _

_That's a chance you take when the heat's on you._

_When the heat is on._

_Oh-whoa-ho, oh-whoa-ho. _

_Caught up in the action, I'll be looking out for you._

_Oh-whoa-ho, oh-whoa-ho. _

_Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it? Tell me, can you feel it? _

_The heat is on. The heat is on-on. The heat is on.  
_

_Burning, burning, burning. _

It's on the street. Whoo-hoo! The heat is--" 

_**BRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!**_

"Huh!? What!?" Stephanie awoke in a panic as the ship's alarm clock went off.

"_Good morning, Stephanie." _

"Hi, computer. What time is it?"

"_I'm afraid you overslept again."_

"You mean I'm going to be late to class _again_!?"

Like a bolt of lightning, Stephanie launched herself from bed and into the shower. Afterwards, she entered the closet and slipped on her usual pink outfit and wrapped herself up with her coat and mittens.

"_Don't forget your hat."_

"Oh, right."

The 17 year old hurried back into the closet for her pink cap then lowered herself to the surface via the Skutla. Contrary to her unusual yet pleasant dream, it was no longer summer but winter. The sun hadn't shown its face around since early October and now all of LazyTown was caked with snow. It didn't bother anyone in particular but the fact that it had been over a year since Sportacus left LazyTown gave everyone a feeling of doubt that he would ever return.

It wasn't that Stephanie was failing as LazyTown's hero; It was that everyone noticed she was working herself too hard juggling between schoolwork and her nightly duties as the town savior. She had been late to class now more than ten times but thankfully, today would be the last day until the next semester started.

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. McGillicuddy." Stephanie said out of breath as she entered the classroom. "I overslept again."

"Oh, do you hear that!? She overslept again! How nice of you to join us, Meanswell! Please! Take a seat! Would you like a toffee?" The curmudgeonly old teacher said with a breath of fire.

"I said I was sorry."

"Not yet, you're not. Now, class…" The teacher stood in front of the class with a book in hand. "If there are any of you with so much as _half_ a brain, you _will_ read this entire novel and you _will_ write a report about it. Do you understand what I'm throwing at you here!?"

"But Mrs. McGillicuddy!" Ziggy raised his hand. "Tomorrow's the beginning of our Christmas vacation!"

"Yes, I know that. So what?"

As the sugar enthusiast stammered, Trixie raised her hand next. "You can't expect us to finish the _entire_ novel over a couple of--"

"Let me repeat myself. You _will_ read the novel. And you _will _write a report. If not, your high school lives as well as your future will end up like my 3rd marriage: down the crapper. Understand?"

With a loud gulp, everyone slowly nodded and started reading. After class, the kids wasted no time to leave their teacher's presence except Trixie, who noticed her best friend slumped over her desk.

"Hey, Steph. Wake up." Trixie nudged the girl.

"Trixie?" Stephanie came around, yawning. "Oh no. Tell me I didn't fall asleep again."

"No need. You and I both know what happened. Now come on. We'd better get to our next class."

"Yeah."

When the school day ended, everyone came hurdling out of the building as if they were engaging in the running of the bulls. Loud cheers and screams of joy filled the air as well as bits of torn up paper and abused notebooks. Stephanie simply walked among the crowds of people as her friends caught up with her.

"Hey, Steph." Pixel greeted her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm just tired." She yawned.

"How long are you going to keep doing this to yourself, Pinky?" Trixie put her arm around her friend.

"Until he comes back."

"It's been over a year now, Steph." Pixel sighed. "I don't think he's ever coming back."

"No way! Don't even say it!" Ziggy shook his head. "Sportacus _will_ come back! He would _never_ abandon us!"

"Ziggy's right." Stingy concurred. "Sportacus would never neglect _my_ well-being or ignore _my _safety or---"

"Okay, we get the idea!" Trixie bonked him on the head. "Jeez, you think it's all about you."

"You mean it's not!?" He joked.

Trixie ignored the boy and turned back to her pink-haired friend. "Look, the point is that we all want what's best for you. You've got to take better care of yourself, you know? Don't keep pushing yourself over and over because if you do--"

"I know." Stephanie interrupted with a grin. "I'll end up like _her_."

Stephanie pointed across the field, where Mrs. McGillicuddy hurried along the snow, cursing and swinging a ruler at somebody who obviously wasn't there.

"Defy _me_, will ya!?" She took a swing at nothingness. "Stand still and fight! Raaaahhh!"

Stephanie and her friends just laughed and continued walking, their arms wrapped around each other. She took another glance at them and felt a warm presence in her heart.

"What would I ever do without you guys?"

* * *

**_Song: "The Heat Is On"_**


	2. In The City

_**A/N: And now I go back in time to the Latibær stage play to pull out the original characters that eventually evolved into Ziggy, Pixel, Stingy & Trixie. Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. **__**However, with the exception of two, their names will be changed for personal and comedic reasons. But why am I bringing them out, you ask? Hehehehe…**_

**Chapter 2**

Old man Remus was old no more. At least in his own twisted mind he wasn't. His hair remained sleek and silver and his wrinkles were now faded but the limits and restrictions of age continued to weigh down on him. The dark circles under his now gray eyes were one of the many signs that the former superhero was being driven to madness.

As he stood in the middle of the vacant field, atop a concrete platform encircled with foreign markings, Remus held out his magic amulet and focused its energy on the glass eye in the center of the platform. The pulsating green light was then absorbed by the dark pearl for a few moments before it emitted four streams of pure energy.

"Wait!" The old man shouted. "Return to me!"

The streams trailed off into the sky, joining as a single flash in the dark clouds that hovered above. Remus tightened his grip on the medallion and forced the magic beings back to ground level, where they then began to materialize into something completely new and different. Faint voices then began to emit from them as Remus continued to stand watch, awing at the sight before him. After a while, the lights vanished and left behind a trail of smoke on the ground where four young teenagers now stood.

"Halla." Remus walked over to a red-headed young girl in pigtails and bright yellow overalls with a striped shirt. "My dear sweet Halla."

"Master." She bowed to the man.

Remus then approached a sleepy-eyed young man with slick brown hair wearing an orange suit with blue bowtie. "Hello, Hodge."

"Master Remus." The boy grinned.

"It's good to see you again." He then turned his attention to another young man. "Sweetchuck! How are you?"

An obese blond-headed boy with a severe overbite and wearing a tight, binding blue outfit whipped out a half-eaten candy bar from his back pocket and chuckled. "Hello, boss!"

Then the evil ringleader heard a low beeping noise coming from behind him. With a pleased and mischievous grin, Remus turned around and greeted the last of his minions.

"Hello, Goggi."

A taller, meaner looking young man with spiky green hair wearing a pair of silver goggles over his forehead and a matching silver foil outfit closed the flap on his wrist monitor and bowed before his master.

"Hello, sir."

As the four circled around their leader, the magic gem in Remus' amulet began to glow as the eye on the platform turned to a whiter shade of pale.

"It's been too long since we last met, my friends." Remus began. "When those who called themselves your friends shunned you from your homes and imprisoned you in this vast wasteland."

"Where are we?" Halla asked, looking around the dead fields.

"A place no one has been able to reach before. A place I only thought existed in my own memory. They call it the Forbidden Zone."

"They?" Sweetchuck scratched his head.

"The town that lies just beyond the borders of this plane: CrazyTown. It shares the roads with two others--HazyTown and LazyTown. Together they are known as the Trinity."

"And what of them, sir?" Goggi asked.

"They will soon be a thing of the past. But in order to ensure its erasure from existence, we must first take certain enemies into consideration. Especially one in particular."

"Who?"

* * *

"Stephanie, dear!" Mayor Meanswell called out for his niece inside his home.

The pink-haired girl descended from the airship via the platform in her hero outfit and heard her uncle's voice from across the street. Wasting no time, she hopped onto the icy floor and marched through the snow all the way home, where she eventually tripped through the front door and landed flat on the couch.

"I'm okay!" She said out of breath and with a smile on her face.

"Well _that _was fast."

"What's the emergency?"

"No emergency. I was just calling you to see if you remember about the town meeting tonight."

"Oh. Of course… why are we having it again?"

"Tonight's the night I introduce the town to the new chief of police."

"Oh yeah, right…. Do we really need one?"

"Stephanie, you know as well as I do that you can't keep this up on your own. You need help patrolling the streets."

"I know." The young girl sighed. "I just don't want them to think I'm a failure or anything like that."

"Stephanie." The mayor put his hand on hers. "You're not a failure. You've been a huge help to us all. To me, the people you know and love and to anyone else who's ever needed someone to look up to. If anything, dear, you're an inspiration to us."

"Thanks, uncle." A smile spread across her face.

"Come now. We have--"

"MILFORD!" Bessie shouted from outside. "LET'S GO _NOW_!!!"

"Er, coming Miss Busybody!"

* * *

Inside the Town Hall, everyone sat in their seats as Milford stood at the front of the building onstage behind the podium. Stephanie and Ms. Busybody stood quietly beside him as the high ranking LazyTown police officials lined up against the back wall in uniform. As the people quieted down, Milford stepped forward and spoke through the microphone.

"Good evening." He began. "Tonight I'd like to start out by thanking--"

"GET ON WITH IT!" Shouted a random citizen.

"Oh my." Milford stammered. "Very well. As you all know, my niece Stephanie has been patrolling the streets of LazyTown for over a year now and--"

"YEAH! GO STEPHANIE! WHOO-HOO! YEAH!" Trixie, Stingy, Ziggy, Pixel and the rest of LazyTown's youth interrupted with their cheering.

"Umm… could you please be quiet?"

"Oh sorry."

"My bad."

"Go on."

"Please continue."

"Yes, thank you." The mayor cleared his throat. "Crime has been at an all-time low, not that we've had much in the past, mind you. But with the threat of one Remus Tard still out there and Sportacus currently being detained in his homeland, we need to boost up our defenses and help Stephanie any way we can."

"But why now all of a sudden?" Someone asked.

"Yeah and what makes you think Remus is still a threat!?" Asked another. "He hasn't shown up since the last time!"

"Don't you get it?" Stephanie spoke through microphone. "Remus is planning something big. He's been beaten twice now and he's not easy to push over. He'll be back for sure. And when he gets here, he won't be alone. I know it."

"How do you know?" Trixie's mother asked.

"He's got a powerful magic on his side that's corrupted him. He'll know what to do and how to do it."

"Which is why we have to be ready." Milford nodded. "And with our new chief of police, I know we'll have the strength and knowledge we need to protect ourselves from a future attack. And so without further ado, I introduce to you all--"

The mayor was interrupted yet again as a maniacal war cry filled the air followed by a huge figure in blue, rolling along the floors of the stage. Raising to his knees, the man screamed once again and took out an M4A1, shooting off several rounds into the air. Naturally the people inside the building freaked out and took cover under their seats except Trixie, who strangely thought the entire thing was part of the program.

"Wow." The girl's jaw dropped in awe.

"Everybody remain calm!" The man said as he got on his feet. "That was just a test. I repeat, that was just a test."

"A test!? You fired a gun inside the building, you jerk!" Bessie growled.

"They're just blanks, ma'am."

"L-ladies a-and g-gentlemen…" Milford was now twitchy. "…May I introduce Police Chief Eugene Cosgrove?"

"At ease, folks." The 45 year old man said as he put his weapon away. "Well it looks like you all failed my test. It appears none of you are ready to face the dangers that lie ahead. We're dealing with a sick individual, folks. You need to expect the unexpected! It's times like these when you need to open your eyes and take a better look at the place you live in. Sure, LazyTown may seem nice and cozy from the outside but _inside_… well that's a different story."

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What am I talking about!? Look around, little girl!"

"Who are you calling little?"

"This city's about safe as a lion's den. And out here, this _is_ the lion's den!"

"What!?" Stephanie was dumbfounded. "Uncle, is this guy for real!?"

Milford struggled to answer. "Uhh…w-well… I-I… you see, dear--"

"Of course I'm for real!" Cosgrove interrupted as a new song came into place. "When you get down to it, the place you call home might just be an illusion. You see…

_Somewhere out on that horizon._

_Out beyond the neon lights. _

I know there must be something better. 

_But there's nowhere else in sight. _

_It's survival in the city. _

_When you live from day to day. _

_City streets don't have much pity. _

_When you're down that's where you'll stay. _

_In the city._

_Ah ha. _

_Ooh-hoo. Ooh-hoo. _

_In the city. _

_Ahhh haaa."_

As the police chief continued making his point across the people, Stephanie shook her head in utter disbelief and left the building unbeknownst to them all.

"I don't believe him." She said. "LazyTown isn't as bad as it seems."

"_I was born here in the city. _

_With my back against the wall. _

_Nothing grows and life ain't very pretty. _

_No one's there to catch you when you fall. _

_Somewhere out on that horizon. _

_Far away from the neon sky. _

_I know there must be something better. _

_And I can't stay another night. _

_In the city. _

_Ah ha. _

_Ooh-hoo. Ooh-hoo. _

_In the city. _

_Ahhh Haaa."_

Once the commotion had ended, the new chief of police cleared his throat and turned the attention back over to the mayor.

"Yes, thank you for that, Chief Cosgrove." Milford said. "Are there any questions?"

"Yeah! Who drank the rest of the Tang!?" Another random LazyTowner shouted.

"We're out of Tang!?" One of them panicked.

Soon the entire building turned into a madhouse. As people fought over the refreshment table, Milford sighed and lowered his head on the podium.

"Oh dear." He sighed. "Sportacus, where are you?"


	3. Please Come Home For Christmas

**_A/N: Yes, I know I'm late posting this chapter but let me explain. The document manager HATES me! I swear to you it's like one day it's working just fine then the next--WHAM! It sticks its nose at me and tells me I can't upload my chapters! The fiend! As of now, I wage a personal war and vendetta against this soulless machine. That's right. It's on like Donkey Kong... oh and I, uhh, just got out of surgery. But I'm fine now! No need to worry! Just, uhh... just read on and ignore me like nothing happened. Hehehe... ohhh..._**

**Chapter 3**

Stephanie wandered around town, her head hanging low as the snow began to fall. When she reached the town center, she stopped and looked up to marvel at the beautifully lit Christmas tree towering above her. She then turned her attention across the other side, where a young couple held each other close as they stared up at the tree as well.

"I've never felt like this before." The young man said shyly.

"Me neither." The young woman smiled.

"My stomach feels all fluttery inside."

"It's great though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. My friends at school think I've gone crazy."

"Well if this is crazy then I don't ever want to be sane."

And with that, the two pressed their lips against each other's and embraced even tighter. When they broke apart, they held hands and walked away, leaving the pink-haired girl behind.

"Ah." The boy sighed with relief.

"Oh." His girlfriend put a concerned hand to her mouth. "Did you fart?"

With a slight chuckle, Stephanie looked down again and was suddenly reminded of the feeling she had been longing for the entire year. She had missed Clyde's embrace, the warmth of his kiss, his wacky sense of humor and most of all, his companionship.

_**A/N: Oh God… it's happening again, isn't it? **_

With a heavy sigh, she turned around and headed for home with the hope that her beloved would soon return to her before Christmas:

_Bells will be ringing this sad, sad New Years._

_Oh, what a Christmas to have the blues. _

_My baby's gone but all my friends_

_They tell me that we'll meet again._

_Choirs will be singing Silent Night._

_Christmas carols by candlelight. _

_Please come home for Christmas._

_Please come home for Christmas._

_If not for Christmas, by New Year's night._

Upon reaching the town hall, she noticed everyone walking out and heading for their homes. Milford and Bessie walked beside each other and talked while Trixie and the others took the long way back. Stephanie shrugged and continued her sad venture through LazyTown.

_Friends and relations send salutations. _

_Sure as the stars shine above._

_But this is Christmas. Yes Christmas, my dear._

_The time of year to be with the ones you love. _

_So won't you tell me you'll never more roam?_

_Christmas and New Years will find you home._

_There'll be no more sorrow, no grief and pain._

_And I'll be happy, happy once again._

_Oh, there'll be no more sorrow, no grief and pain._

_And I'll have a happy Christmas once again._

Stephanie finally arrived at her home and stopped at the doorway to look up at the starry sky. Closing her eyes, she wished for Clyde to come home soon unaware that she would eventually meet up with him soon enough.

* * *

The cold, dark gloominess of the lair seemed to match Robbie Rotten's mood as he laid there in his fuzzy chair, depressed and grumpier than usual. For an entire year since his failed attempt to break Sportacus' spirit, Robbie had been this way and with the holiday season now in motion, it was likely he'd get worse. 

The door to the laundry room opened up and out stepped Rottenella, Robbie's former dancing pawn he had used to win a duel against Stephanie many years ago. After unloading a fresh batch of clean blankets onto a basket, she noticed Robbie staring up at the ceiling with nothing in particular to say.

With a sigh, she sidestepped her way towards the resident villain and handed him the television remote. Robbie took the control and tossed it aside much to her frustration. She then leaned in to tuck his cushions but still Robbie said nothing but a faint growl. Another idea popped in Rottenella's head as she reached under the chair and pulled out a Sportacus plush that was completely covered with pins. It seemed that not even Robbie's homemade voodoo doll was enough to pull him out of his depression.

"Oh, come on boss!" Rottenella finally snapped. "You _love_ torturing the Sportakook doll!"

Robbie shifted his eyes over to the doll, grabbed it then tossed it back. Growling, the ballerina headed for the kitchen and whipped out a piece of periwinkle cake from the fridge.

"How 'bout some cake instead?" She held the plate in front of his face.

Robbie ignored the creamy dessert and tilted his head back even more, releasing a depressed huff of cold air.

"Oh, boss!" Rottenella frustratingly put her head down on the arm of the chair. "You're killing me, you know that!? I don't know why you bothered bringing me back at all! I mean sure, you gave me a voice box, removed my winder and a responsibility to take care of and clean up after you but do I ever complain? No! Never! This whole thing with the superhero has got to go, man! I mean what's the deal? He left town, didn't he!? And of his own free will, no less! I thought that's what you wanted! Huh? …B-boss? Am… am I right?"

Slowly, Robbie turned his scowl over to his new assistant and finally opened his mouth. "That's… not… THE POINT!"

"Eep." She cowered behind the arm.

"_I_ was supposed to be the one who drove Sportadorka out of town! All those experiments! All those inventions! _Wasted_!"

"Er, okay… remind me why you didn't go through with your last so-called 'genius' plan?"

"Because I… because…"

"Yes?"

"Because I felt bad for him!"

"Huh?"

"The guy's been through so much in his life and yet he sacrifices everything to make sure everyone, including me, is safe! I don't get it! How can somebody make all the right choices without any strings attached!?"

"And what's going on in that head of yours?"

"I… I really don't know! It's like… it's like I'm almost feeling… _remorseful _of my actions."

"But you didn't do anything."

"But I was gonna!"

"But you didn't!"

"I was gonna!"

"But You didn't!"

"I was gonna!"

"But you didn't!"

"I was--will you stop that!?"

"Stop what?"

"_That_!"

"What?"

"Tha--Knock it off, Rottenella!"

"Sorry, boss."

"And now that he's gone, I find myself… without a purpose."

"Huh?"

"I've been spending so much time trying to get rid of him and now that he's gone… I don't know what to do next."

"Oh… well are you hungry? I can whip you up a--"

"No." Robbie said as he slumped back down in his chair.

"Boss?"

"Just… go."

_**DING!**_

"Aah!" Rottenella shrieked as she ran back into the kitchen. "My Yorkshires!"

Depressed more than ever, Robbie held up his ravaged Sportacus doll and crushed its tiny head as he grumbled to himself. "It's not fair."

**_A/N: I'll have more posted later... hopefully. _**


	4. Rocky Mountain Way

**_A/N: Just thought I'd make up for last week and post another chapter. Enjoy._ :)**

**Chapter 4**

After dinner, Stephanie headed back into the airship. She felt exhausted after all the excitement and decided to hit the sack early. She changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed, peeking through one of the ship's frost covered windscreens and sighed. Would she see her beloved again? Or was she just wishing on a false hope?

"Good night, Clyde." She said to herself. "Wherever you are."

The next morning found all the LazyTown kids playing out in the snow as they celebrated their beginning of their Christmas vacation. Nearby, Mrs. McGillicuddy marched through the snow covered sidewalk armed with a trash can lid and plunger.

"You kids just stay where you are!" The old bat griped at them. "Just because you're not in class doesn't mean I can't take evasive action!"

A snowball to the face later and the curmudgeonly schoolteacher was out cold on the ground. Behind a wall, Ritchie and Gloria could be heard laughing and giving each other a high five.

"Wow! I can't wait till _we_ take her class!" Gloria exclaimed.

"One day, Gloria." He looked up encouragingly as he juggled a snowball. "One day."

Across the street, Trixie raced through the ice on Stingy's snowmobile as the obsessive brat clung to her from behind.

"Trixie, be careful!" He yelled.

"Don't be such a baby!" She laughed as she made a sharp turn to the left.

"You're gonna ruin my snowmobile!"

"What's the point of having it if you're not going to use it!?"

"Hey, Trixie!" Pixel pulled up in his own modified snowmobile with Ziggy tucked away in a little cab. "We'll race ya!"

"You're on!"

"TRIXIE NOOOOO!!!" Stingy's voice echoed through the town.

Meanwhile, Stephanie stepped out onto the platform and laid eyes on the town as everyone enjoyed their weekend morning.

_"It's 30 degrees outside, Stephanie. You might want to take a coat."_

"I've got one, computer. Thanks." She smiled.

By now the two snowmobiles were at each other's throats as the drivers laughed maniacally much to Stingy's horror. Trixie cranked up the speed despite her passenger's protests and managed to leave Pixel and Ziggy in the dust, or in this case--the snow.

"Hey!" Pixel cried as his goggles automatically wiped the snow off from the lens.

"They want to play dirty, huh?" Ziggy giggled as he whipped out a bag of gumballs. "Catch up to them, Pixel!"

"Okay, Trixie!" Stingy was now pale with fear. "You won! Let's pull over!"

"Never!" She continued laughing as she noticed Pixel catching up to her. "Oh, so you want a rematch?"

"Attack, Ziggy!" Pixel commanded.

Trixie and Stingy soon found themselves under attack by a flying barrage of stray gumballs. This immediately caused Stingy to worry even more.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, the snowmobiles came charging towards Mrs. McGillicuddy who had just regained her consciousness from the snowball incident. She locked eyes with the drivers and screamed before they were able to pull away and lose control of the vehicles altogether.

"You lousy kids!" The old woman screamed. "You could have killed me!"

The crystal began to beep, alarming Stephanie who wasted no time in taking over the controls of the airship. By watching the viewing monitor she could see Pixel and Ziggy driving towards the end of the icy road, where the snowmobile eventually died.

"Okay, so where are Stingy and Trixie?" She asked herself as she surveyed the area.

A few seconds later and the monitor displayed the two of them spinning out of control towards a crowd of people hanging around the town Christmas tree.

"Uh-oh." Stephanie gulped as she hurried onto the Skutla and soared through the clouds. "Hang on, guys! I'm coming!"

"WAAAAAHHHH! STEPHANIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!" Stingy's voice rang out in a cyclone of horror.

Stephanie managed to pilot the mini jet slightly above ground level and activated a set of grappling hooks from the wings. She then targeted the bumper of the vehicle and lassoed the hooks around it.

"There we go, safe and---What the!?" Stephanie shrieked as she found herself being pulled in for the ride. "Okay, why didn't that work!?"

"It's the road, Steph!" Trixie called out. "It's too icy!"

"And we're about to run into those people!" Stingy covered his eyes.

But they didn't. The Skutla suddenly stopped in the middle of the road as the snowmobile suddenly vanished. Stephanie took a moment to catch her breath and waved nervously at the townspeople, who were a bit frightened themselves.

"H-hi…" She said before noticing her friends gone. "Wait a minute… Stingy? Trixie? Where did--"

"Hey look!" Ritchie pointed up in the sky. "It's another airship!"

"What?" Stephanie shot a glance up at the sky along with everyone else.

The Track One was now hovering above LazyTown, towing away a relived Stingy and Trixie as a familiar blue blur shot down from the sky. The LazyTowners backed away in awe and began cheering.

"Hi everyone!" Sportacus smiled brightly. "Miss me?"

"SPORTACUS!!!" They all cried with joy.

The children began hugging their hero as the adults shook his hand, welcoming him back home. When he said hello to Pixel and an overjoyed Ziggy, he could see his old friend hurrying out of the parked Skutla.

"Sportacus!" She wrapped her arms around him tightly and kissed his cheek. "You're back!"

"Hello, Stephanie." He smiled. "It's good to see you again."

"You have no idea how much I've missed you."

"I can relate."

"Wait a minute." She paused. "If you're out here then who rescued Trixie and Stingy?"

"As if I had to tell you."

"You mean…"

A sudden gust of wind caused everyone to turn around and see another Skutla park behind the other as Trixie and Stingy came running up to their old friend.

"Oh Sportacus, thank you!" Stingy hugged the man.

"Geez, what a baby." Trixie rolled her eyes.

Stephanie's heart was now beating faster than ever as she took a deep breath and stepped forward in anticipation. A familiar looking, dark haired young man climbed out of the vehicle and stood before Stephanie with a joyful yet nervous look on his face.

"Clyde." Stephanie said softly.

"Hey, beautiful." He responded.

_**A/N: …Why? I mean, why? Is there no greater torment for me than this? Please tell me. I'd like to know. **_

"Clyde…" She said again, tears running down her face.

"Aww." Trixie said as she suddenly grabbed Stingy by the hand.

"What the--" Stingy noticed her hand on his.

The two broke away and laughed nervously as they returned their attention to Clyde and Stephanie. The pink-haired girl wasted no more time and put her arms around the green-eyed boy, releasing more of her tears of joy. Clyde smiled and stroked the girl's pink locks before putting his hand on her face and wiping away the tears.

_**A/N: I think I'll take some painkillers to dull my senses.**_

"You don't have to cry anymore." He whispered to her. "I'm here now."

"For good?" She sniffled.

"For good."

They leaned in and pressed their lips together passionately, releasing all of their emotions as Milford and Ms. Busybody came running up to the scene.

"Oh my." Bessie blushed. "Well it looks like they're back."

"Yes." Milford smiled. "Then all will be well."

When Clyde and Stephanie parted for air, they put their foreheads against each other's and smiled. That was when Stephanie finally realized something.

"Clyde?"

"Yeah?"

"Everyone's staring at us, aren't they?"

"…Crap."

They slowly turned their heads and blushed at the sight of almost everyone in town staring at them with dreamy, starry-eyed looks on their faces.

"Hehehe. Don't mind us." Trixie waved.

"So where have you guys been?" Pixel asked, changing the subject.

"Back home." Sportacus answered. "Because of Clyde's condition… well _former_ condition, I had to personally see to it that Clyde's training would go uninterrupted."

"Former condition?" Stephanie asked. "Then that means…"

Clyde simply tapped a finger to his head and smiled. "They moved out."

"And furthermore…" Sportacus put a proud hand on his nephew's shoulder. "From this day on, Clyde is now an official superhero!"

"All right, Clyde!" Ziggy cheered along with everyone else.

"Thanks, everyone." Clyde was starting to blush some more. "But none of that really matters. I'm just glad to be back here with all of you… and my girl, of course."

"Clyde…" Stephanie giggled.

_**A/N: Hehehehe… I'm giggling too… medicine's fun…**_

"But we didn't just train at home, mind you." Sportacus continued. "In order to help him familiarize with his surroundings, we had to do some traveling. Spent a lot of time in the mountains, actually."

"Oh yeah." Clyde smiled. "That was fun. But then there were those weirdoes we met who hung around the woods and kept crying too much because of… well, y'know."

"Weirdoes?" Stephanie was confused.

"They were hermits, I think. Brothers in fact. I told them about my condition and why were traveling and they kept bawling their eyes out like it was the saddest thing they ever heard."

"And you met them near the Lazy Mountains?"

"No." Sportacus shook his head. "The Rocky Mountains."

"Colorado?"

There was now a twinkle in Sportacus' eye as he and Clyde gathered everyone around to tell their story:

_Spent the last year Rocky Mountain Way. _

_Couldn't get much higher. _

_Out to pasture._

_I think it's safe to say_

_Time to open fire. _

_And we don't need the ladies_

_Crying 'cuz the story's sad. _

'_Cuz the Rocky Mountain Way _

_Is better than the way we had. _

They all laughed and followed the two heroes as they walked along the snowy streets of LazyTown. Nearby, the Periscope popped up from the ground and was witnessing everything that was going on as Clyde took his turn to sing:

_Well he's telling us this _

_And he's telling us that._

_We change it everyday. _

_Says it doesn't matter. _

_Bases are loaded and Sporty's at bat. _

_Time to change the batter. _

_And we don't need the ladies _

_Crying 'cuz the story's sad. _

'_Cuz the Rocky Mountain Way_

_Is better than the way we had._

_Hey! Hey! Hey! _

The periscope followed the music and all the laughing until it finally descended back into the ground. Rottenella removed her hands from the controls and took several deep breaths before she turned around to call Robbie.

"Uhh… Boss!? I think you should see this!"


	5. Dirty Laundry

**_A/N: All right, I've taken some more of those painkillers the doctor gave me so I shouldn't have any complaints about whatever it is I may be writing... What AM I writing? I forget, is this a Blackadder fic or is it Simon & Simon? Oh crap..._**

**Chapter 5**

Robbie paced around his lair, trying to handle the situation as calmly as possible. He took deep breaths and ran his hands along his hair, muttering to himself while Rottenella just stood there nervously.

"Sportakook… back?" Robbie grumbled. "…But why? Is this some sort of sick joke, Rottenella!?"

"No, boss! I swear!" She pleaded. "The big blue doofus is back! And so is his cousin!"

"Nephew!"

"Whatever! The point is now that Sportakook is back, you can finally run him out of… town. Oh, wait. He just… came back."

"Ya think!?"

"So what does this mean?"

"I don't know. It's all too confusing right now. I'm not sure what to do. I tried breaking him but that didn't work. I tried to get him to leave town for years but he eventually does it on his own. And now that he's back…"

Robbie plopped onto his orange chair with a very confused look on his face. He remained seated for almost a minute, quiet and staring down at the floor. Rottenella didn't know what to say but she remained by Robbie's side for comfort.

"Boss?" She asked. "Are you okay?"

"…I think so. But why? Why am I not feeling any malice towards the guy now? Why am I not scheming anything right now? Why am I--"

"Have you ever thought of the possibility that you might actually be glad to see him?"

"NO!"

"Well I was just asking!"

"I don't know what it is but I don't like it! Something has to be done!"

"You're not going to team up with that Remus guy again, are you?"

"Oh no! I'm through with him! He's as sneaky as _I _am! And maybe even worse! No, I'm gonna do this on my own!"

"Can I help?"

"What?"

"Well I mean that's why you reanimated me in the first place, right? To help you and stuff?"

"…Yeah, I guess."

"So can I help you or what?"

Robbie thought for a moment. He hadn't counted on Rottenella actually wanting to help him defeat his sworn enemy. But the thought of having a partner in crime brought a grin to his face.

"All right." He nodded.

"Sweet!" She exclaimed. "This is gonna be so cool!"

"Come on! Let's get to work!"

* * *

A reception was held outside the town hall, where all the townspeople welcomed back Sportacus and Clyde. The blue sports elf shook hands with the mayor and was introduced to the new police chief.

"Sportacus, it's a real honor." The chief said as he shook the man's hand. "I'm Eugene Cosgrove, chief of police."

"How do you do?" The hero asked with a bright smile.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with you and the mayor sometime soon. We have lots to discuss."

"Such as?" Milford asked.

"We'll get to that later. But for now, let's enjoy this nice holiday bash you've set up."

"Well, it was all Ms. Busybody's doing."

"Oh, Milford…" Bessie blushed as she giggled coyly.

As the celebration went on, Clyde maneuvered his way through the crowds of people and hurried through as many handshakes and well wishes as he could. When he saw an opening, he took it and caught up to Stephanie, surrounding her with a massive hug and kiss to her soft lips.

"What took you so long?" She teased.

"Come here, you!" He playfully lifted her up and twirled her around for everyone to see while Trixie looked dreamily at them from behind a small crowd.

"Don't they look cute together, Stingy?" She asked the sleepy-eyed brat.

"Huh?" He briefly turned his head from counting all the money in his ceramic piggy. "Did you say something?"

"Oh, never mind."

"I guess this is it, huh?" Pixel walked up to the group with Ziggy close behind. "The gang's finally breaking up."

"What are you talking about, Pixel? The gang's all here!"

"Yeah but now that Clyde's back, they'll be spending more time together until they finally forget about us."

"They wouldn't do that!" Ziggy shook his head before thinking it over. "…Would they?"

"Of course not, Ziggy." Trixie sighed. "Look, don't get paranoid over nothing. Pinky's our friend. She's always been our friend and she always _will _be. Boyfriend or not."

Pixel nodded before getting a smirk on his face. "True. So I guess we can count on you being there for us too once you and Stingy hook up."

_**POW!  
**_

Ziggy leaned over Pixel's now unconscious body and tapped him gently with the tip of his shoe. "Wow. Out cold. Nice one, Trixie!"

"I can't believe he just said that!" She growled.

Stingy looked up again and noticed Pixel lying on the floor and Trixie's angry expression. "Did something happen?"

* * *

Within the Forbidden Zone, built around the glass eye and the platform it was placed in, a medium sized tower made of black marble and grey stone stood proudly beneath the falling snow. Inside, Remus and his cohorts wandered around the basement, where a laboratory had been set up.

Using his ingenuity and his gift for science, Goggi managed to put together a machine that harnessed the power of Remus' magic amulet. The four metal prods that stood up from the ground let off a powerful flow of electricity, keeping the gold amulet hovering in between them. The gem in the center then began to glow its green aura.

"Excellent work, Goggi." The evil one said. "Once we get the other amulets and place it in between the chargers, I'll be able to fuse myself with all four elements and bring down the Trinity for good."

"There are others?" Halla asked.

"Oh yes. Three more with very unique capabilities. There's one that controls wind and one that controls water. Finding those will be a bit difficult."

"What about the other one?" Hodge asked.

"The other one…" Remus grinned. "…The other one is as good as mine."

"Where is it?"

"LazyTown. That pink-haired devil has it. Astral was a fool to give it to her. She doesn't know the powers it possesses. Then again… she _did_ beat me with it."

"So what do we do, sir?" Halla stepped forward. "Do we go over to LazyTown and take it from her?"

"Not quite. She's a tough one, that Stephanie. Knowing her, she'll put up a fight and then the plan will all be shot down. No, I need to convince her to give it to me."

"How?"

"If there was only some way to isolate her from everyone. Make her feel completely alone and cut off from those who are closest to her."

Hodge started to understand. "Then we could lure her in when she's at her most vulnerable."

"Exactly."

"Duhh…" Sweetchuck briefly took out the lollipop from his mouth as a fountain of drool fell from his bottom lip. "How's we gonna do that, boss?"

"Turn them against each other, of course." He grinned. "Start petty. Then build on it until it becomes more severe. Like a rumor, for instance. Or maybe a whole arsenal of lies, secrets and betrayal."

"Huh?"

"Whatever it takes to make her lose faith in her friends, I want you to do it. She must lose all hope and turn to us for guidance."

Remus then huddled together with his minions and explained it through, what else, a song:

_I make my living off the evening news. _

_Just give me something-something I can use. _

_People love it when you lose, _

_They love dirty laundry. _

_Well, I could have been a hero but I wound up here._

_I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear. _

_Come and whisper in my ear. _

_Give us dirty laundry._

The doppelgangers then broke away and headed up the stairs, trashing almost everything in their way as they screamed:

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!  
_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em all around!_

Remus then led his minions in a parade of chaos as he continued to give his orders:

_We got the bubble-headed beach blond who comes on at five._

_She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye._

_It's interesting when people die--_

_Give us dirty laundry._

_Can we film the operation? _

_Is the head dead yet?_

_Y'know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet._

_Get the widow on the set!  
_

_We need dirty laundry!_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!  
_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!_

_Kick 'em when they're up! Kick 'em when they're down!_

_Kick 'em when they're stiff! Kick 'em all around!_

As they marched into a small arsenal, Remus watched as Goggi equipped everyone with a headset and activated some sort of device from his wristband.

_Dirty little secrets! Dirty little lies!_

_We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pie!_

_We love to cut you down to size._

_We love dirty laundry!  
_

_We can do the innuendo! _

We can dance and sing!  


_When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing!_

_We all know that crap is king! _

Give us dirty laundry! 

With a portal now opened in the middle of the small room, Remus nodded at his cohorts and wished them luck with a minor salute.

"We will not fail you, sir." Goggi said as he passed through the magic gateway first.

Soon they all followed until the portal closed by itself and Remus was left standing in the room alone. He felt a change in his body and looked over at a nearby mirror, where he could see his normal blond hair starting to return.

"At last." He smiled. "My youth is beginning to restore. And then… my magic."


	6. Love Will Keep Us Alive

**_A/N: The pain I suffered through my knee was NOTHING compared to writing this chapter... Madre de Dios ayúdame._**

**Chapter 6**

Later that day, Cosgrove met with Milford, Sportacus and Bessie at the police station. The chief of police closed the door and sat at his desk, where he took out a thick folder filled with documents.

"See this here?" He began. "This is all the information I have on the Red Smirk gang."

"The who?" Sportacus asked.

"Before I was transferred here, I was working the streets of LA. Lots of criminal underworlds there, big guy. Gangs, smugglers, extortionists and some real whackos."

"And these are all the ones you've helped put behind bars?" Milford asked as he went through the files.

"That's right, Milford. Every single one of them over a course of 30 years. But none of them come close to this Remus Tard guy you're all so shaken up about."

"That's because he isn't some petty thug." Bessie said. "I've seen how he is. He's insane. He doesn't care about wealth or land. It's power that he's after."

"It's what they're _all_ after." He paused for a moment before sharing another story with them. "Tell me, have any of you ever heard of the infamous Piranha brothers?"

"Piranha brothers?" Milford scratched his head. "I'm afraid not."

"Consider yourselves lucky. Doug and Dinsdale Piranha were the most notorious, sinister and downright evil pair of bloodsuckers ever to join the underground gangland. Earlier in their lives, they were found to be too mentally unstable to join the service. Dinsdale was a complete sadist. When they joined the underground gang, his methods of beating money out of his victims was, shall we say, a bit unusual."

"How?" Milford asked.

"He nailed their heads to the floor."

"Oh my." Milford began to gag.

"Doug was worse. You wouldn't believe what he did to get what he wanted."

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Bessie quivered.

Eugene paused for a moment as he recalled the horrors of his victim's claims and took a deep breath. "Everyone was afraid of Doug. Even Dinsdale. He used… _sarcasm_."

"NO!" Milford and Bessie held each other in fear.

"What?" Sportacus looked at the man strangely.

"He knew all the tricks. Dramatic irony, metaphor, pathos, puns, parodies, everything! He was insane!"

"Okay, I'm out of here…" Sportacus said as he shook his head in disbelief, exiting the room.

Neither Eugene, Bessie or Milford noticed Sportacus leave as the police chief continued his story. "Through a combination of violence and sarcasm, these two were able to make their way to the top of the criminal underworld and strike fear into the hearts of many!"

"How did you ever catch them?" Milford finally asked.

"Luckily, Dinsdale was under the strong belief that he was being watched by a giant hedgehog he referred to as Spiny Norman."

"How big was Norman supposed to be?"

"Usually 12 feet from snout to tail but in our last encounter, he was said to be about 800 yards long. When sightings of Norman increased, so did Dinsdale's insanity. He was then convinced that Norman slept in airplane hangars and that's when we nailed him. He destroyed a privately owned airfield, where we had set up a perimeter to catch him when he escaped. We cuffed him, took him in for questioning and got the drop on Doug a few days later."

"Excuse me." Bessie interrupted. "But is there supposed to be some kind of point to all this?"

"Of course, dear lady. You see, your friend Remus is a few mental breakdowns away from becoming like Doug and Dinsdale. He's bound to screw up sometime. And when he does, we'll be able to take him down. In the meantime, however, we shouldn't neglect the fact that he's still a force to be reckoned with."

"I'd say Sportacus and Clyde have returned in the nick of time." Milford smiled.

"Yes, Sportacus and his nephew and your niece, of course, are decent protectors of this fine town. But I'm afraid we'll need more than that."

"More?"

The police chief nodded as he stood up from his chair and looked out the window. "I've gotten in touch with the local law enforcement from your neighboring towns. Representatives from CrazyTown and HazyTown will be coming shortly after the new year and will meet with us in the town hall."

"For what?"

"You'll find out soon enough, Milford. Don't you worry."

* * *

Night was descending as Stephanie and Clyde walked hand in hand around the snow-covered town. Stephanie had already done this on her own several times before but now that Clyde was back, it was like a whole new experience to her. As they talked and laughed with each other through the gentle snow, Goggi and his team of misfits kept their eyes on the pink-haired girl from the shadows. 

"That's her." Goggi whispered. "The one Remus told us about."

"Duh, how's do ya know?" Sweetchuck goofily asked.

"Because you moron! Do you see anybody else here with pink hair!?"

"Hi kids!" A scary-looking clown with frizzy pink hair said as he popped out of nowhere. "What are you doing out here in the dark by yourselves!?"

"Go away." Goggi warned.

"Aw, what's the matter!? Don't ya have the holiday spirit in ya?" He then honked his big red nose.

"What do clowns have to do with Christmas?" Halla asked in a low voice.

"Well shoot! I'm one of Santa's--"

_**BZZZZZZTTT! **_

The clown fell unconscious to the floor as the smoke fizzled from his now black hair. Standing triumphantly behind him was Goggi, who had just tested one of his inventions.

"Right." He grinned. "The brain fryer is working."

"Is he dead?" Hodge asked.

"No. But he'll have a headache in the morning."

"Holiday clown? How absurd."

"Come. Let's follow this girl around and see what else we can use against her."

"Isn't the boy enough?" Halla asked.

"Remus wanted _everyone_ to turn against her and I'm not about to let him down."

Clyde and Stephanie finally got to the Christmas tree in the middle of town and looked up at its beauty while Remus' bunch spied on them from behind a tree . Stephanie put her arms around the boy and kissed his cheek before releasing a massive sigh of comfort and relief.

"Are you okay?" Clyde asked her. "How do you feel?"

"I feel great. In fact, this is the best I've felt in a long time." She answered with a twinkle in her eye. "And it's all thanks to you."

"You know, Steph…" Clyde began. "There was a time I didn't think I'd ever be able to make it through all those tests, trials and… you know."

"The voices in your head?"

He nodded. "But you were the one who pulled me through. It was the thought of meeting up with you again that gave me the strength I needed to make myself better."

"There was nothing wrong with you in the first place."

"Did I mention how much I love you?"

"Only about eight or nine times."

_**A/N: Oh, motherf---**_

"You know they're talking a lot." Halla pointed out. "But they're not really saying anything."

"Let's go." Goggi said as he turned around.

"Where?"

"I want to study her friends."

As they sneaked away, Stephanie and Clyde remained completely oblivious to their presence as they remained embraced in each other's arms.

"It's a like a dream come true, you know?" Clyde kissed her forehead.

"Like a big weight has been lifted." Stephanie nodded.

Clyde opened his mouth again and this time… well, I guess you can figure it out:

_I was standing all alone against the world outside. _

_You were searching for a place to hide. _

_Lost and lonely, now you've given me the will to survive. _

_When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. _

Stephanie turned herself around and leaned against the boy, his arms still wrapped around her waist and offered her own words of encouragement:

_Don't you worry. _

_Sometimes you've just got to let it ride. _

_The world is changing right before your eyes. _

_Now I've found you, there's no more emptiness inside._

_When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. _

They repositioned themselves once again and stared into each other's eyes as they sang in unison:

_I would die for you. _

_Climb the highest mountain. _

_Baby, there's nothing I wouldn't do._

_Now I've found you, there's no more emptiness inside. _

_When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. _

As Sportacus made his rounds, he saw Stephanie and Clyde from across the snowy field. He couldn't help but smile at the two and chuckled as he went along his way.

_I would die for you. _

_Climb the highest mountain. _

_Baby, there's nothing I wouldn't do. _

_I was standing all alone against the world outside. _

_Lost and lonely, now you've given me the will to survive. _

_When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. _

_When we're hungry, love will keep us alive. _

* * *

Elsewhere, within the city of gold known as Mutari-- 

_**A/N: Scene change! Oh thank Hoffa! **_

Shut up. Now then… within the golden walls and along the shiny path they walked on, Astral and his team kept their eyes open for anyone who could help them. To be quite honest, it was Astral who kept his eye out for someone; everyone else practically drooled at the sight of all the gold.

"I know what you're thinking." Astral grinned. "But don't even think about it."

"Huh, what?" Bob snapped out of his trance. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Thweet mother of merthy!" The Professor lisped. "You actually lived here!?"

"You think _that's_ something?" Astral said. "Just wait until we reach the courtyard."

"Hey, Astral!" Bob whined. "We've been walking for hours now! How long till we get there!"

"What do you mean 'we'? You've been draping over my shoulder the entire time!"

"I gots to rest, y'know!"

"From what? Thtuffing your fathe?" The Professor joked.

"Don't poke fun at my faith!"

"What!? No! Fathe not _faith_!"

"Ya lost me, doc."

"Oh for the love of…" The Professor sighed as he continued walking. "Y'know, I juth don't get it."

"Get what?" Astral asked.

"Bob here."

"What about me, punk!?" Bob hissed.

"Of all thingth, why a rabbit?"

"What are youse yappin' about!?"

"The way you were dethcribed, I ekthpected thumthing thcarier."

"You don't think I'm scary?"

"There'th nothing thcary about a pudgy, pink rabbit with athtray breath."

A faint rattle alarmed Astral as he held his hand up as a signal for silence. Dramatik and the others looked around but saw nothing.

"What is it, doc?" Bob shifted his eyes.

"We are not alone." The wizard said. "Come. We must hurry. The main gates are upon us."

As the four hurried along the path, a practically invisible figure kept his eyes on them and kept to the walls of the golden city. As he moved, the colors of his surroundings suddenly spread along his body, keeping him invisible to the naked eye. The Chameleon was watching them.

* * *

**_HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!_**


	7. Life's Been Good To Me

**Chapter 7**

A new year had set in the Trinity. A week had passed since Sportacus and Clyde's return, Cosgrove was now awaiting the arrival of his guests from the Trinity and Remus' minions continued to spy on Stephanie and her friends in secrecy. Back in the lair, Robbie concocted his greatest scheme yet to bring Sportacus down.

"I've got it!" He exclaimed.

"You do!?" Rottenella was now giddy. "What is it?"

"We go over to the center of town where his airship is, activate the ladder, sneak inside and--"

"And hijack it across town, getting it stuck in the Lazy Mountains, where he'll have no choice but to leave town in order to get it unstuck! Right! Right!?"

"…Uhh, no. Actually I was just thinking we'd sneak in and TP the place." Robbie grimly said as he held out a roll of toilet paper.

"_That's_ your plan!?"

"Yes! You've got a problem with it!?"

"Oh, boss…" She shook her head.

"All right, Einstein, _you _come up with one!"

"Why me? _You're_ the big man in charge! He's _your _enemy! I'm just here for support."

"Then support my plan!"

"That's not a plan, that's acting out! What, are you in 5th grade!?"

"Oh forget it! I'm out of ideas!"

Robbie fell to his seat and pouted while Rottenella just stood there speechless. The resident villain then leaned back against his chair and thought to himself aloud.

"I just don't get it." He said.

"Boss?" Rottenella kneeled to his side.

"My life could have been so much better if he never existed. I try and I try and I try but where does it get me? Nowhere. That's where I'm going. That's where _he's_ going. Nowhere. I should have just stayed with Ma and Pa Rotten."

"You never talk about your parents much."

"They're not my parents. Not my real ones, anyway."

"What?"

"I was adopted."

"Oh."

"But it's not like I have a grudge against them or anything. I mean after all, they're the reason I'm the way I am today! So I should be thankful to have been raised by such wonderful, lazy, loathing, rotten yet loveable people as them! It's just…"

"What is it, boss?"

"I still can't help what my life could have been like if I had just learned to… _lighten up_."

"You're not considering what I think you're considering, are you?"

"I don't know, Rottenella. I'm so mixed-up and confused right now. I mean how bad can a person's problems be when he shifts the blame off of himself and onto a hyperactive sports monkey in a blue suit that the children all love and adore? That could have been me! I could have been a singer! A dancer! An entertainer! Going onstage and making people happy! Oh, I can see it now!:

_I have a mansion, forget the price. _

_Ain't never been there. They tell me it's nice. _

_I live in hotels, tear out the walls. _

_I have accountants, pay for it all. _

_They say I'm crazy but I have a good time. _

_I'm just looking for clues at the scene of the crime._

_Life's been good to me so far. _

"Oh, boss. You're a funny guy!" Rottenella giggled as Robbie took her by the arm and continued explaining his fantasy:

_My Maserati does one-eighty-five. _

_I lost my license, now I don't drive. _

_I have a limo, ride in the back. _

_I lock the doors in case I'm attacked. _

_I'm making records, my fans they can't wait. _

_They write me letters, tell me I'm great. _

_So I got me an office, gold records on the wall. _

_Just leave a message, maybe I'll call. _

_Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through. _

_Everybody says I'm cool. _

"Yup! You're cool, boss!"

_I can't complain but sometimes I still do. _

_Life's been good to me so far. _

Then in a show of good spirits, Robbie got up from his seat and pulled his assistant towards him and started to dance around the lair with her. When they broke apart, Robbie displayed his fancy footwork and tapped his way from one side to the other. Impressed yet feeling a bit challenged, Rottenella posed in a standard ballet form then did a few tricks of her own to get to the other side of the lair. Robbie laughed and spun the girl around as he brought his fairy tale to a close:

_I go to parties, sometimes until four. _

_It's hard to leave when you can't find the door. _

_It's tough to handle this fortune and fame. _

_Everybody's do different, I haven't changed. _

_They say I'm lazy but it takes all my time. _

_Let me hear ya sing: Oh yeah!_

"Oh yeah!"

_I keep on going, guess I'll never know why. _

_Life's been good to me so far! Yeah, yeah, yeah!_

Finishing with a bang, Robbie sat back down on his chair and sighed. He realized his wildest dreams could never come true.

"That could have been me." His tone suddenly dropped. "Instead I chose to be a--"

"A bitter and uptight curmudgeon with greasy hair that nobody likes hell-bent on sustaining the town's moral ethics and foundations based on the principles of laziness?"

"…Yes." Robbie said dryly. "Thank you."

"What's the point of imagining, boss, when you can just do it? Start over. Make amends with the guy."

"I guess I… _could_."

* * *

Inside his airship, Sportacus finished his daily exercise routine and took to the pilot's seat when he heard a sudden beeping noise coming from the back of the ship. He activated the wall panel next to his bed, which released a flat screen monitor. 

"_Incoming message from home, Sportacus." _

"Thanks, computer."

The screen fizzed for a second before revealing Sportacus' youthful mother Jezelle smiling at him. "Hello, son."

"Mother. Are you still coming to LazyTown?"

"Yes of course. Your father will be coming with me as well."

"Dad's coming… too?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Of course not."

"You're sure LazyTown's fine?"

"Yes. Remus hasn't been seen or heard from since we left. And the new police chief Mayor Meanswell hired is a bit… _crazy_."

"Crazy?"

"He has some strong doubts about the safety of this town. He's making it seem like things are worse now than they were before but they're not."

"You can never be too careful with madmen, dear."

"I know."

"I've got to go now. I'll see you soon."

"Bye ma."

As the video screen switched off and retracted back into the wall, Sportacus stepped out of his airship and walked along the beam. He could see all the kids playing around and having a good time, which brought a smile to his face.

"Stephanie's right." He said to himself. "Cosgrove just doesn't see what a peaceful place this can be."

* * *

On the surface, Stephanie and her friends were playing out in the snow as Goggi and the rest of the doppelgangers kept a close eye on them. 

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Ziggy yelled as he and the boys ganged up on the girls.

Clyde leapt into the air and shielded Stephanie and Trixie from Pixel and Stingy's snowball attack and fell to the floor face first.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Stingy whined. "You're not a girl!"

"Really? What gave it away?" Clyde joked. "My rugged good looks or the fact that I'm good at math?"

"Hey!" Stephanie and Trixie snowballed the boy in green.

As the playful conflict continued, the doppelgangers relocated to a different part of the neighborhood and met in seclusion.

"They're so… _nice_ to each other!" Halla gagged.

"Duhhh…" Sweetchuck ran his sticky fingers through his fuzzy blond hair. "I thought they was acting pretty mean to that Clyde kid."

"They were playing, you fool!"

"What have we found out?" Goggi asked.

"Her friends are a bunch of morons! I mean take this 'Trixie' girl for example. She's pretty yet her looks are something of a cover. She's tough, tricky, and all around boyish."

"Yeah!" Hodge stepped in. "And this Stingy guy's a real penny pincher! And it's not just money he covets! Toys, food, clothing, cars and all sorts of material objects! It's weird! It's---oh, look! A penny! Mine!"

Hodge jumped in for the shiny coin as he pushed Sweetchuck aside. The fat one opened up a candy bar and started attacking it as he explained his own findings. "Der, that Ziggy fella's a real… duhhh… well, he likes at eats candy a lot! Yeah! All the time!"

_**CHOMP!  
**_

"And…" Sweetchuck then coughed through all the chocolate in his mouth as he continued talking. "…It's like… candy… always… and nothing else… it's disgusting!"

Goggi paced around and nodded. "Yes and this 'Pixel' boy is a bit strange. He spends most of his time on the computer, fiddling around with technology and concocting all sorts of crazy inventions. I mean who does that!?"

Just then Goggi's communicator bleeped, forcing him to answer it. "Yes, this is Goggi…. Hello? Hello?"

"Who is it?" Halla asked.

With a shrug, the green-haired boy hung up. "No idea. Anyway… Those four are too caught up in their own world, I don't think Stephanie would notice if they turned against her. No… we'll have to aim for someone else."

"Like who?"

"Like… her uncle. Or that Sportacus guy. Or maybe even…" Goggi's face then lit up. "…Her boyfriend."


	8. Take It Easy

**Chapter 8**

A few days had passed and the weather was now starting to ease up. The snow had practically melted around town and the children were back in class, starting their new semester. In Mrs. McGillicuddy's class, all eyes were on the pink-haired girl as she took her seat next to Trixie. Stephanie reached into her bag and pulled out her assignment before she finally realized they were all staring at her in amazement.

"Uhh… good morning?" She said awkwardly.

"Well look who showed up on time!" The old bat of a teacher said as she wheel chaired her way inside the room.

"Mrs. McGillicuddy?"

The old crone was all a shambles, wrapped in various types of bandaging from her legs to her neck. Her head bore a sliver of soft padding duct taped around her head and attached to a knob that was stapled to the right side of her brain. She was unable to turn her head or wield her ruler like a sword towards her students but it didn't prevent her from coming to class to make their lives as miserable as hers. And the fact that they were practically laughing at her or behind her back didn't matter to her at all.

"Laugh all you want, you excess bags of embryo!" The teacher growled. "But don't you think for one minute I forgot all about your reports! Because I didn't! And whoever fails to bring me their 3 page essay on 'How To Irritate People' will be given a one-way ticket to _Hell_!"

In no time at all, every single student in the room got up from their desks and laid their report on the teacher's lap then returned quietly to their seats. Each of them displayed a smug look on their face, finally putting their teacher in her place and shutting her up for good.

"…What?" McGillicuddy was dumbfounded. "…You're all getting detention!"

Then in a random act of pure misfortune, the wiring on McGillicuddy's electric wheelchair suddenly went awry, creating a few sparks in midair. The wheelchair then turned the teacher around in circles and out the door, where she rolled along the hallways and caught everyone's attention.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" She yelled.

Everyone turned to Stephanie again, who suddenly realized she was the only one prepared for this sort of thing. "Oh yeah. Right." She said before taking off.

"Come on Steph!" Ziggy cheered her on.

_**CRASH! **_

BANG! 

"Uh-oh."

* * *

"We've got an idea on how to bring Stephanie over to you, sir." Goggi said through his communicator as he sat atop a telephone pole disguised as an electrician.

"What is it?" Remus' voice said over the static.

"We'll attempt to isolate her from her boyfriend."

"How? The bond those two have is strong."

"For now at least. Once I obtain a DNA sample of the girl, we'll meet back with you in the tower."

"Very well."

The green-haired boy switched his communicator off and took out a high-tech visor from his tool belt. He zoomed in on Stephanie and her friends, who were walking home from school and laughing then turned his attention elsewhere to see Robbie and Rottenella pacing around the cow billboard.

"Who are _they_?" Goggi asked no one in particular.

* * *

"Come on, boss! Just go over there and say 'hi'! That's all you need to do!" Rottenella nudged the resident troublemaker.

"No! I'm not ready yet!" Robbie winced.

"Ready for what!? You're just gonna shake hands with the guy and be on your way!"

"He'll know something's up!"

"What are you so afraid of!?"

"Nothing!"

"You call this nothing?"

Robbie noticed he was now in the fetal position and slowly removed his thumb from his mouth. "…I have my own ways of dealing with stress, thank you very much."

"Look, do you want to start over or what?"

"I don't know what I want! It's like one of my worst dreams has finally come true! _Me_! Being _nice_!"

"I hardly doubt that since you haven't done anything yet!"

Robbie started to cradle back and forth, maintaining the fetal position. "It's dark outside… it's raining. I'm all wet and I think I'm bleeding…. I knock on the door and the scary penguin with the ruler whacks me upside the head…"

"Boss, what are you talking about?" Rottenella was starting to freak out.

"It's my most recurring dream… I've had it since I was a kid. The rain… the door… the penguin!"

"Penguin? We're not talking Danny DeVito here, are we? Lord knows I've had some pretty shaky nightmares about him _myself_!"

"No!"

"Oh. Wait a minute, I thought your dream was to be a famous singer and 'round the clock party animal!"

"I'm trying to _share_ something with you here!"

"Sorry boss."

"It doesn't matter." Robbie sighed, finally getting back up on his feet. "The dream never finishes and I wake up back in the orphanage… and now here."

"Look, if you don't want to meet with Sportadork--"

"It's inevitable." He put his hand up. "I'm gonna have to do it sometime and let him know I've given up my bad guy ways."

"And the kids? You know… with their constant playing and noise-making?"

"The ones I used to fight with all the time are all grown up now. But there will always be children here in LazyTown. It's time I faced the facts."

"Boss…" Rottenella put her hand on Robbie's shoulder and smiled. "…I'm proud of you."

* * *

Goggi lowered his visor and smirked. "What an unbelievable moron! I think I just found a patsy."

"Halla to Goggi. Come in." The red-haired girl's voice broke through the static.

"This is Goggi. Go ahead."

"The pink one's approaching. What should I do?"

"Stay on her. Hodge and Sweetchuck should be meeting with you soon." As Goggi hung up, he took one last glance at Robbie. "Yup. He'll do alright."

* * *

Later that night, everyone in town gathered outside the town hall where a large stage had been set up. Chief Cosgrove stood beside the mayor and Ms. Busybody while the police force stood amongst the crowd. After a formal greeting by the mayor, he turned the podium over to the chief of police.

"Good evening, LazyTown." He started. "As you all know, we've been a little on edge this past year what with the threat of Remus Tard and his connection to the dark arts. My men have already patrolled the streets with Sportacus and Clyde's help and they've all done a fine job so far. But the time has come for all of us to unite as one and help each other out in our time of need."

"The guy sounds like a broken record." Trixie rolled her eyes.

"I now give you the next step towards the future of our beloved town. Please help me welcome the Trinity Watch!"

Everyone looked around in befuddlement then turned their attention over to the stage where several men marched on carrying rifles over their arms. Officers from CrazyTown wore a blue jean outfit with crocodile hide boots, a whicker cowboy hat and black shades over their eyes. Representatives from HazyTown sported more of an oriental getup with a triangular shaped unitard, leather wrist guards and a facemask that covered all but their eye region.

Cosgrove was the only one who applauded as everyone else remained in fear or confusion. "Welcome! Thank you for coming!"

"Sportacus, what is all this?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Cosgrove mentioned he had something in store for us but I wasn't sure what it was."

"And these guys are here to… _help_ us?" Clyde scratched his head.

As soon as the men stood in formation onstage, outbursts from the public began to pour in. Most of them were scared for their safety, others didn't think it was enough but all in all they agreed that the so-called Trinity Watch was a bad idea. In an attempt to calm them down, Sportacus, Clyde and Stephanie stepped onstage to try and reason with the people.

"Everyone please!" Sportacus pleaded.

"Let Chief Cosgrove talk!" Stephanie tried to speak over them.

"Oh boy…" Clyde realized they weren't breaking through.

But then, from out of nowhere, a revolver fired into the air and shattered the silence. The townspeople dropped to the floor for cover as a familiar old coot from CrazyTown came hopping around with his gun in hand.

"Well now ain't _this_ a purty sight!?" The old man sarcastically quipped. "The whole buncha ya running 'round like a buncha chickens lost their heads!"

Stephanie raised her head up and sighed from relief. "Jasper? Is that you?"

"Yes'm." The CrazyTown tipped his hat to the girl. "I reckon so."

"Hey kid." Louie waved to the girl as he and the rest of the CrazyTowners regrouped onstage.

Stephanie just smiled as she greeted her old friends. "Louie! Alice! Ma! It's great to see you! Wait, don't tell me you guys are part of the Trinity Watch also!"

"You kidding me, hun?" Ma giggled. "An old gal like myself?"

"There's no way I'm gonna pick up a gun and fight, shug." Louie's wife pat Stephanie on the head.

"It's just us guys." Louie nodded.

Then another familiar face walked over to greet Stephanie. The pink-haired girl recognized the man's scar and shook his hand firmly. "Hi Demetrius."

"Young Stephanie." He began. "It's so good to see you again."

"So I guess you're part of the Watch too, huh?"

"Indeed I am."

"We need all the help we can get, Stephanie." Cosgrove said as he stepped in. "Since they're friends of yours I knew they'd be willing to help."

"That and our homes will be as in much danger as yours should Remus ever return."

"And he _will_." Sportacus nodded. "But I think with all of us here together now, we just might stand a chance."

Stephanie looked around then turned back over to the old monk. "Demetrius, where's Astral? And Bob?"

"Astral and Bob are in Mutari." He said softly. "I thought you knew that."

"You mean they never came back!?"

"I haven't heard from them in a while."

"And what about the Professor? And Dramatik?" Stephanie asked Ma.

"The Prof wanted to go with 'em!" The round woman exclaimed. "Dang fool if ya ask me!"

"And Dramatik?"

"They needed a decoy." Louie simply said almost giggling.

An hour had passed and for some reason the entire town meeting turned into an old fashioned country jamboree. It seemed that Milford's and Cosgrove's words of encouragement were enough to raise the spirits of everyone in town and help celebrate their union. As the party went on, Clyde and Stephanie square danced with the insane CrazyTowners while Jasper led a jug band mixed with those who were Lazy, Crazy and Hazy and sang his heart's desire :

_Well I'm running down the road, trying to loosen my load. _

_I got seven women on my mind. _

_Four that wanna own me, two that wanna stone me,_

_One says she's a friend of mine. _

_Take it easy. Take it easy. _

_Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy._

_Lighten up while you still can. Don't even try to understand. _

_Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy. _

"Yee-haw! You tell 'em, Jasper! C'mon, sugar dumplin'!" Ma hollered as she stole Milford away from Bessie.

"Oh, Ms. Busybody!" The mayor panicked.

"Wait a minute! That's _my_ date!" Bessie ran after them.

_Well I'm-a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see._

_It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me. _

_Come on baby. Don't say maybe. _

_I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me._

_We may lose and we may win_

_Though we will never be here again. _

_So open up, I'm climbing in. Take it easy. All right!_

In the midst of all the excitement, Goggi and his little band of misfits lurked around in disguise each with a small blade concealed in their sleeve.

"First one to make contact radio it in." Goggi ordered through his well-hidden communicator.

"Der, does it have to be a blood sample?" Sweetchuck asked through the wire.

"Sweetchuck, this isn't the time to get nauseous!"

"Er, no it's not that! It's just, duhhh, I gets blood confused sometimes wit chocolate!"

"Sweetchuck? I hate you. There. I said it."

_Well I'm running down the road, trying to loosen my load. _

_Got a world of trouble on my mind. _

_Looking for a lover who won't blow my cover, she's so hard to find._

_Take it easy. Take it easy. Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy._

_Come on baby. Don't say maybe. I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me. _

_Ooh-hoo! Ooh-hoo! Ooh-hoo! Ooh-hoo! _

As the doppelgangers tried to dance their way towards Stephanie, they each encountered several problems. Goggi's miscalculation in the two-step caused him to skip a beat and completely miss Stephanie as she turned in a circle with Clyde. Halla's boyish charms were enough to impress the duller of the CrazyTown men and kept their eyes on her much to her dismay. Hodge would have gotten a hair sample at least if it wasn't for his greediness that overcame his senses as a rare buffalo nickel dropped from Louie's money bag. Needless to say, Hodge fell with it. As for Sweetchuck, his love for sweets proved too powerful as the refreshment table beckoned him.

"Thank y'all so much!" Jasper hollered as he and his jug band bowed before the crowd. "Let's hear it for LazyTown for givin' us this warm welcome here!"

A thunderous applause soon followed and the people of LazyTown were left speechless. Sportacus managed to spread a smile across his face until an older looking man approached the crowd. The music and the chattering stopped as all eyes were now fixed on the tower of muscles wearing the elegant suit and sash.

"Who is that?" Stephanie asked noticing Clyde and Sportacus bowing their heads. "Uh, guys? Are you okay?"

"Buh-buh-uhh-Uncle Sporty?" Clyde stammered.

"It's okay, Clyde." He reassured his nephew.

The man came face to face with the hero in blue and his nephew before surveying the area around him. _"Sonur? Er þessi þú?" _

"_Það er Ég."_ Sportacus responded in his native tongue.

"Sportacus, Clyde, who is this?" Stephanie asked.

"It's-it's-it's…" Clyde remained in shock.

Sportacus chuckled nervously. "Hi dad."


	9. Get Over It

**Chapter 9**

Everyone in the crowd was surprised to learn that the towering figure before them was none other than Sportacus' own father. After a few seconds of total silence, the woman with the golden mane and gown of silver followed behind her husband.

"What's going on here?" She asked. "Why has everyone gone silent all of a sudden."

"Hi ma." Sportacus waved at the woman.

"WHAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?" Practically all of the town gasped.

"That's your mom!?" Ziggy freaked out. "But she's so young!"

"And pretty!" Trixie added.

"And hot!" Pixel blurted out. Everyone then turned to him as he just shrugged, "So I like 'em older. Sue me."

Jezelle gave her son and grandson a hug while the man in the suit introduced himself to the crowd. "My name is Hallbjorn Íþróttaálfurinn. This is my wife Jezelle. You already know our son Magnus."

"Who?" Ziggy looked around.

"Sportacus." Stephanie replied.

"And of course you all know our grandson Clyde." Jezelle added.

"Grandson…" The thought blew Stephanie's mind. "But you're both so young-looking and…"

"Fit?" Hallbjörn finished her sentence. "Yes it would appear so."

"But why?"

"Umm…" Clyde stepped in. "You see back home, we kind of… well… let's just say things there allow us to age slower than most people. They make us appear a lot younger than what we really are."

"Uh-huh." Stephanie started to eyeball him. "So how old are _you_?"

"I'm eighteen!" He suddenly panicked. "I swear! I swear!"

"Clyde, I was just kidding!" She giggled.

"The effects won't kick in until Clyde turns 21." Jezelle explained. "However staying away from our homeland for too long will void the process and we will begin to age at a normal pace."

"Which is why our visit here must be short." Hallbjörn said.

"What _are_ you doing here anyway?" Clyde asked before panicking again. "I mean not that I'm not happy to see you or anything! Hahaha… No, no! God, that would be crazy! Not that _I'm_ crazy! Not anymore at least! Haha… I mean, wait! No… No, no, no… Uhh…"

"Clyde?"

"Yeah?"

"Silence."

"Okay."

"Magnus." Jezelle took her son by the arm. "Can we speak to you alone in private?"

Sportacus looked around at all the gazing bystanders and nodded. "Yeah. Excuse us, everyone…"

As Sportacus, Jezelle and Hallbjörn walked off, Stingy looked up and saw yet another airship hovering above LazyTown. This one was larger than the other two with a silver and gold color scheme and consisted of three torpedo shaped cargo bays instead of one.

"Another airship?" Stingy's eyes went wide. "Y'know I bet I could make a fortune charging for sky parking."

As everyone got back into the mood of things, Goggi and his companions snuck away from the area and regrouped in the courtyard.

"Well what now O glorious leader?" Halla sarcastically asked.

"Time for plan B." He said, dropping his blade.

The four of them wandered the town in seclusion until they reached the mayor's house. Goggi took out a scanner and observed through the monitor the layout of the entire structure.

"Stephanie's room is straight ahead." He said pointing at her window.

When they got to the window, Hodge and Halla stood by and watched as Goggi took out yet another one of his devices and switched it on. The green-haired miscreant placed a small metal disc on the glass and stepped back for a few seconds. A few blinks of light later, the locks on the window magnetically flipped open and pulled the window up for the doppelgangers to enter.

"Let's go." Goggi said in a low voice.

* * *

"What is it mother?" Sportacus asked Jezelle as he stood in the middle of his parents' airship. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about your brother." The woman said.

"Jon?"

"No. Berto."

"You…" Sportacus was suddenly trembling with hope. "…You found him?"

The woman looked at her husband before lowering her head regrettably. Hallbjörn placed a hand on his wife's shoulder and looked at his son, shaking his head.

"I'm afraid not, son." He said. "I wish it were so but…"

"But what?"

"…It's just that it's been so long since he disappeared. And any child that runs away from home on his own is likely to run into danger. And… Your mother and I have remained hopeful yet all of our searches have landed us nowhere and--"

"We've declared him legally dead." Jezelle finally broke the ice. "I'm sorry. I had to tell you in person."

Sportacus was taken aback. He wasn't prepared for what his parents had just told him. The hero in blue fought back his tears and inhaled deeply before stepping outside the ship via the landing platform.

"You're starting to age like them." Jezelle said. "If you stay here any longer there may be no way to reverse it."

"I know what I'm doing, ma." He said.

"Will you come home?"

"I _am_ home."

And with that, Sportacus lowered himself back to the bottom as the door sealed shut. With a sigh, Jezelle turned to her husband and noticed the uneasy look on his face.

"It's all right, Hallbjörn. I know what I'm doing." She said.

"If you're wrong about this, what then?" He asked her. "There are other things at risk here besides this scavenger hunt of yours."

"It's not a scavenger hunt. I'm searching for the truth."

* * *

Back inside Remus' tower, the evil magician paced around the black pearl that remained on the ground glowing and emitting its dark haze. The markings that encircled the platform remained glowing as well while Remus tried to study them.

"You know what I'm looking for." He spoke to the gem. "Now tell me!"

There was no reply. The pearl remained still as a pulsating light began to emit from its center. Seconds later, Goggi and his team were now inside the building and marching on over to their commander.

"Master Remus!" Goggi called out to the man. "Our plan is ready!"

"Is it?" He asked. "Did you get the DNA sample?"

"Of course."

Goggi held up a baggy containing Stephanie's brush which contained a few strands of pink hair. As Remus studied the bag he nodded in approval until he noticed something strange on the surface.

"Goggi?" He sighed. "Did you really need to obtain a stool sample and place it _outside_ the bag?"

"What!? Ew!" Goggi tossed the bag into the air which then landed in Halla's hands.

"Gross! Don't give it to _me_!" She yelped, tossing it over to Hodge.

"Aah! Not mine!" He hurled it at Sweetchuck.

"Hey!" The chubby one said before licking the bag. "Chocolate!"

"Disgusting." Remus shook his head before snatching the bag away. "Will you begin, Goggi? I have everything set up just the way you asked."

"Thank you, sir." The techno-guru said as he received the bag from Remus and headed for the magic circle.

The black eye continued pulsating as Goggi stood before the enchanted circle of markings. He kneeled down and placed a small black box with a few switches running down its side and adjusted the circular lens that was poking out of it. After flipping one of the switches, a dim current of electricity shot out towards the pearl and joined with its power.

"It's ready." Goggi turned to his master.

Remus approached the circle next to Goggi and pulled a knife a from his pocket. He then wrapped his entire hand around the blade and ran them both in opposite directions.

"And now…" Remus said as he squeezed his fist tightly, pouring his blood on the ground. "I will give her my essence so she may never forget the true power within her."

The blood ran along the markings of the ancient shrine until it spread neatly along the circle and surrounded the glowing black pearl. The intensity of the magic and heat then caused the river of blood to boil ferociously as Goggi placed the finishing touches. He reached into the small bag and pulled out a single strand of hair from the brush and dropped it into the mix.

"Here we go." Goggi said in anticipation. "Everyone stand back."

Everyone complied and backed away from the circle as the blood reached the black pearl. Once that happened, a wall of electricity shot up from the magic concoction and practically blinded everyone. When the current died down, the blood began to slither around in a giant glob until it landed on the pearl again. The oozing creation then began to form into a definite shape as everyone watched in amazement.

"Goggi, you've done it!" Remus exclaimed.

"Not yet I haven't." He grinned.

The red glob was now extending several limbs before them before it morphed into its final stage of creation. What stood before them was a familiar looking girl with pink hair wearing a bodysuit of white. Her head remained lowered and her eyes closed until Remus stepped into the circle to greet Goggi's creation.

"Welcome, young one." He said warmly. "I am Remus Tard. Your new master."

Her eyes opened and fixated on the grinning man standing before her. "…Master?"

"Yes, that's right. And I have a little job for you."

Goggi then approached her as well. "There is a town not too far from here. Someone is waiting for you there."

"Someone?" The pink-haired creation asked. "Who?"

"A boy. The boy you'll be spending the rest of your life with. Your soul mate."

"My soul mate?"

"Yes." Remus caught on to Goggi's scheme. "That's right. You two were meant for each other. However I don't think he's aware of it just yet."

"And I love him?"

"That's right, pinklet."

Goggi then took out a small glass container of pink liquid. "This will help him remember your love for each other. I put it in an aerosol form so if you ever have trouble making him remember, just spray it around him and he'll come running back for more!"

"This… is so sudden." The girl looked around. "Where am I?"

"You're with friends." Remus assured the girl. "And we're just trying to help you get with the one you love."

"The one I love." The girl nodded as she took the perfume from Goggi. "Thank you."

"You'll need a makeover first." Halla suggested.

"I agree." Remus nodded before putting his hand on the pink one's face. "It's time I let those incompetent LazyTowners know that I'm back! And no one's going to help them this time!"

"Why?" The new girl asked.

"It's hard to help those who can't help themselves." Halla answered. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The pink-haired girl suddenly found herself seated under a chair and spun around as a smock was placed on her. Halla glared at the girl and showed off her scissors as Hodge and Sweetchuck came running up with various other supplies.

"When I finish with you, you'll have to beat the boys off with a stick! Ha ha! Stupid LazyTown!" Halla exclaimed before giving this exchange:

_I turn on the tube and what do I see? _

A whole lot of people crying 'don't blame me!' 

_They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else._

_Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves._

_Victim of this! Victim of that!_

_Your momma's too thin and your daddy's too fat. _

Get over it! 

_Get over it!_

_All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit._

_Get over it! Get over it!_

Halla spun the girl around in the chair once more and soaked her hair immensely before Goggi stopped her in her place. The goggled one then took Halla's scissors and began working on the girl's hair, shortening it and moving it about as he gave his own opinions on LazyTown: 

You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash. 

_But you might feel better if I gave you some cash._

_The more I think about it, old Remus was right._

_Let's kill all the heroes! Kill 'em tonight!_

_You don't want to work, you want to live like a king._

_But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing!_

_Get over it!_

_Get over it!_

_If you don't want to play, then you might as well split._

_Get over it! Get over it!_

Halla took back Goggi's experiment and wheeled her over to another one of her companion's inventions. She pulled the chair back and placed the girl's short pink hair into a small dome where it began to inject a dark colored dye into each and every strand of pink that it scanned. When the process was complete, Halla removed the girl's head from the machine and dried her new black locks with a towel. She then grabbed a comb and straightened her up as she continued:

It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak. 

_You're makin' the most of your losin' streak._

_Some call it sick but I call it weak._

_Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!_

_You drag it around like a ball and chain._

_You wallow in the guilt. You wallow in the pain._

_You wave it like a flag. You wear it like a crown._

_Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down._

_You whine about the present and blame it on the past._

_I'd like to find your inner child and kick it's little ass! _

Get over it! 

_Get over it!_

The Doppelgangers then launched their new ally from the chair and shoved her into a dressing room, surrounding her with several outfit choices. When they left her alone to decide, their rant finally came to an end:

_All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit._

_Get over it! Get over it! _

Get over it! 

_Get over it!_

_It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit!?_

_Get over it! Get over it!_

"I'm ready!" The new girl called out from inside the dressing room.

"Very well!" Remus said. "Show yourself."

The door slowly opened as a long black boot stepped out onto the floor. It was soon followed by a young woman in a small purple dress with black stockings, black sleeves and a blood-red bracelet on her left hand.

"Excellent work, Halla." Remus smiled. "You as well, Goggi."

The new stranger flipped her jet-black hair to the side and grinned mischievously to her allies. "I'm ready to play now."

"Indeed you are… my little Catalina."


	10. One Of These Nights

**Chapter 10**

The weekend came with much anticipation for the people of LazyTown. As they went about their way, the newly formed Trinity Watch began working on something just outside the city limits. Piles of lumber and metal were being put together to form a new structure that would help secure the town.

Below in his lair, Robbie was awakened by the constant hammering, drilling and chattering emitting from the surface. He tried to tuck his head into his pillow and moved around on his chair but the noise was just too much. Finally he conceded and got up when Rottenella came from the kitchen with a plate of periwinkle cake and a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, boss!" She cheerfully greeted him.

"What!?" He yelled over the noise.

"I said good morning!" She repeated.

"What!?"

"I SAID GOOD--"

_**CRASH! **_

"…Morning." Rottenella looked around as the noise stopped. "Huh. That's funny."

"What are they doing up there!?"

"Haven't you heard? The new police chief's put together a special team of operatives to keep an eye on the town."

"What about the police?"

"They're supposed to focus on the smaller things." She then handed him the morning newspaper. "It's all in here."

Robbie grabbed the paper and eyeballed it for a couple of seconds before his eyes went wide. "What? The Trinity Watch!? Are they serious!?"

"Mm-hmm." Rottenella nodded.

"…And Sportakook's parents are _here_!? In LazyTown!?"

"Now don't panic, boss…"

"Panic!? All I did was hypnotize their son and learn secret information I wasn't supposed to know about from him! What's there to panic about!?"

"Well I seriously doubt they know."

"It doesn't matter! I better fix things now!"

In a heartbeat, Robbie fled the room and headed for the surface as Rottenella stood alone with a confused look on her face.

"Man, he's got issues." She shook her head.

Outside, Robbie flailed his arms about as he ran like a headless chicken, passing Sportacus and his parents by as they walked along the sidewalk.

"Who was that?" Jezelle asked.

"Judging by that insane yell, I'd say it was Robbie." Sportacus answered, almost chuckling.

"Robbie Rotten, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't he the one who's been giving you trouble?" Hallbjörn asked.

"He says he does it to get rid of me. But I think he just does it for attention. And anyways, he doesn't give us nearly as much trouble as Remus."

"Oh no?"

"No. Robbie's just a goofball. Remus… well, Remus is a madman."

Halfway into the park, Robbie realized where he was and backtracked all the way over to Sportacus and his parents in record time.

"Hey there!" He said out of breath. "How ya doing?"

"Hi Robbie." Sportacus shook the man's hand. "It's good to see you again."

"Yeah…" Robbie struggled to regain his breath. "You… too…"

"Mr. Rotten." Hallbjörn squeezed the villain's hand. "I've heard so much about you. A pleasure to meet you."

"Thanks… ow."

Robbie turned his head and noticed Jezelle giving him somewhat of a dirty look. A bead of sweat then ran down his face from fear that she already knew what he had done. What he was more afraid of was what she would do to him.

"Uhh… hello."

"…Hello." She finally said after a brief silence.

"Uhh… nice… weather outside, huh?"

"…Yes. If you'll excuse us, son, your father and I have some business to attend to."

"Sure thing, ma." The hero in blue said.

The blond woman turned and walked away with her husband close behind, leaving Sportacus alone with Robbie in an awkward silence.

"Dude, your mom's hot." Robbie finally broke the ice.

"Hey!" Sportacus punched him in the arm. "Don't talk about my mom that way!"

"Sorry!" He laughed uncomfortably. "Say, listen… uhh… you didn't happen to tell her about… uhh… some of my schemes, did you?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Like the one where I hypnotized you and…"

"And what?"

"…Um… never mind!" Robbie ran away in fear. "See ya later, Sportadoofus!"

* * *

Somewhere near the Rocky Mountains, two men exited their small log cabin and loaded up the old red truck waiting for them. One of the men, short, bearded and pudgy, adjusted his black leather jacket and shades before entering the passenger side of the vehicle. His companion, who was tall, thin--almost bony-like and had wavy blond hair, took to the driver's seat and struggled with the engine. 

"I think I'm having a row with the engine." He said with his thin English accent.

"Oh really? Is _that _what's going on?" The pudgy one sarcastically quipped. "Good lord, for a moment I thought I was having indigestion again!"

"N-no need to get tetchy…" He stammered as the engine finally turned on. "…There. See? It's up and running again."

"Let's go then."

As the old red truck rattled its way out of the wilderness, the pudgy man with the beard kept giving the driver nasty looks and shaking his head much to his awareness.

"What!?" He finally snapped. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"Eh?"

"Blubbering your snotty nose in front of those two blokes like that! You looked like a right fairy with all those lotion-coated tissues piling up beside you!"

"It was a sad story, all right!? I mean he lost both his brothers and his nephew's a loony! Forgive me I have just a speck of human decency left in me!"

"Just keep driving, crybaby."

"Where are we going anyway?"

"How many times do I have to bleedin' tell you!? We're going to the airport and from there we're meeting with our connections for those job offers."

"The… the a-air… p-port?" The driver stammered again as he held onto the wheel tightly.

"Oh dear God." The pudgy one sighed. "Get this through your thick skull, you twit. He's not there! He's gone now! The doctors cured you!"

"No they didn't."

"Just drive!"

"All right, calm down Doug…"

* * *

Hours passed until it was officially Saturday night in LazyTown. Stephanie and Clyde, all dressed up for their date, left the restaurant and walked along the sidewalk hand in hand to their next stop. 

"Thanks for dinner." Stephanie said as she kissed the boy's cheek. "I've always wanted to try that place."

"Did it meet your expectations?" He asked her.

"…Hmm… no."

"Oh thank God!" Clyde sighed with relief. "I hated it too!"

"I think we'll just stick to Ma's Chili Chutney Chicken."

"Yes please!"

They both laughed and continued their journey across the street where they entered a small jazz café called the Lazy Rock. Friends from school and the neighborhood were the first to recognize Stephanie and Clyde and waved at them. The band playing on the stage kept the building alive with their energetic tempos, drum beats and mean guitar and sax riffs. When the couple finally made it to a lounge seat near the stage, Ziggy and the others were already there waiting for them.

"Hey you two!" Trixie teased. "Stay where we can see you!"

"Hey girl." Stephanie laughed as she dropped to the seat next to her friend.

"So this is the place, huh?" Clyde looked around impressed. "I like it."

"Yeah and the band's not bad either!" Pixel bobbed his head to the music. "Now I don't usually like this old fogy stuff but I gotta admit it's pretty catchy."

Just then, Stephanie got up to the sound of her cell phone ringing and checked the ID. "It's Uncle Milford. You guys, I'll be back."

"Okay, Steph." Trixie said as her friend left the room. "So Clyde. Seriously. How are things between you two?"

"You really want to know?" Clyde gave her a mischievous glare.

"Yeah."

"I don't." Stingy shrugged.

_**WHACK!**_

"You shut up! Now come on, Clyde. Tell us honestly."

"Well…" Clyde looked down with a sigh.

"Uh-oh…"

"It's going great!" He exploded. "I've never felt better in my entire life! This girl makes me so friggin' happy it's not even funny!"

"Well that's good."

"We're happy for you, man." Pixel high-fived the green-eyed boy.

"…I'm not." Stingy said.

_**WHACK!**_

"Shut up, Stingy!" Trixie assaulted her friend again.

Clyde just laughed. "Oh… I tell you, the way things are right now… Remus doesn't stand a chance against us."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't think anything will ever come between us."

"And now, ladies and gentlemen!" A boy with a blue bowtie and black shades began as he stood onstage next to the band. "The Lazy Rock Café is proud to bring you our new act of the week! Making her first appearance here tonight, please welcome--straight from the outskirts of town--the beautiful! The bold! CATALINAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Clyde suddenly became enwrapped in a stream of pink mist that mysteriously appeared from out of nowhere as the band began playing a slow intro that immediately picked up the pace through the applause. The audience grew even louder when they saw a stunning beauty in a purple dress and jet-black hair walk onstage and approach the microphone stand with her eyes closed.

"Wow…" Pixel's jaw dropped. "Who's she?"

"I don't know…" Stingy took notice as well.

_**WHACK! **_

"I said shut up!" Trixie lost all patience.

Clyde, for some reason, found himself entranced by the girl's beauty as well. The girl now known as Catalina opened her cat-like eyes and smiled at the boy as she began to entertain the audience:

_One of these nights. _

_One of these crazy old nights. _

_We're gonna find out, pretty baby._

_What turns on your lights. _

_The full moon is calling. The fever is high._

_And the wicked wind whispers and moans. _

_You got your demons. You got desires. _

_Well, I got a few of my own._

Everybody then freaked as the girl walked off the stage, microphone in hand, and curled right up next to an entranced Clyde and sang into his ear:

_Ooh, someone to be kind to in between the dark and the light_

_Ooh, coming right behind you. Swear I'm gonna find you_

_One of these nights._

"Hey, back off!" Trixie chased the girl away and threatened her:

_One of these dreams._

_One of these lost and lonely dreams._

_We're gonna find one._

_One that really screams._

Clyde then stood up and sang back to the girl in purple much to his friends' utter confusion:

I've been searching for the daughter of the devil himself.

_I've been searching for an angel in white._

"What!? Clyde, no!"

_I've been waiting for a woman who's a little of both._

_And I can feel her but she's nowhere in sight._

"NO!" Trixie, Stingy, Pixel and Ziggy protested as they tried to knock some sense back into Clyde with this exchange:

_Ooh, loneliness will blind you in between the wrong and the right._

Catalina just ignored them and snuck up behind the green-eyed boy, teasing his earlobes with her voice again:

_Ooh, coming right behind you. Swear I'm gonna find you._

_One of these nights._

When they saw Stephanie coming back inside the building, Stingy and Pixel rushed for the front door and tackled her to the floor.

"STEPHANIE!" Stingy shrieked.

"Stingy, what are you doing!?" She panicked.

"Uhh…" He looked back and saw Trixie and Ziggy trying to shoo away the mysterious Catalina. "…I missed you?"

Catalina could see the commotion in the back and giggled throughout the entire guitar solo as she returned to the stage without Clyde:

_One of these nights._

_In between the dark and the light._

_Coming right behind you._

_Swear I'm gonna find you._

_Get ya baby one of these nights._

_One of these nights._

_One of these nights._

_I can feel it, I can feel it._

_One of these nights._

_Coming right behind you_

_Swear I'm gonna find you now._

_One of these nights._

As the song ended, Catalina bowed before the audience while Clyde suddenly snapped out of the trance and sat back down. Trixie sighed and gave Pixel and Stingy the signal to come back.

"What's gotten into you, Clyde?" Trixie asked.

"Huh?" He looked around a bit confused. "Did I just… sing to that girl?"

"Hey, guys." Stephanie said as she sat next to Clyde. "So what did I miss?"

"NOTHING!" Trixie and Ziggy shouted.

"Ooookaaaaaaaay." She gave them a funny look.

Pixel pulled Clyde aside and shook his head. "Dude, you are _so_ lucky she didn't see that."


	11. One Of These Nights pt 2

**Chapter 11**

The alarm on Clyde's airship had him screaming in a panic. He shot up from his bed and slammed his fist against the wall computer, shutting it up for the day. With a heavy sigh, he turned his attention over to the clock radio on the other side of the room and thought to himself for a moment.

"Maybe… maybe it was all a dream." He said aloud.

_Ooh, someone to be kind to in between the dark and the light._

_Ooh, coming right behind you. _

_Swear I'm gonna find you. _

_One of these nights. _

"AAAHHH!" Clyde panicked again as the radio came on. "No! Devil song!"

Another fist to the wall and the radio was now silent as well. The boy ran his hands through his thick dark hair before changing out of his jammies and into his usual green and khaki outfit.

"Just snap out of it, Clyde." He said to himself. "Nothing happened. You just sang is all."

After descending from the Track One's ladder, Clyde walked over to the courtyard where his uncle and grandparents were overlooking the Trinity Watch's progress.

"What are they doing?" He asked.

"Chief Cosgrove has ordered the team to set up watchtowers in every corner of the town." Sportacus answered.

"Why?" 

"Paranoia." Hallbjörn said. "The man is obviously losing his grip on reality."

"The situation hasn't escalated since before we left." Sportacus nodded. "It's even possible that Remus has forgotten all about us."

"I doubt it." Jezelle shook her head. "Perhaps he's just taking his time."

"For what?"

"For the town to destroy itself in a blaze of fear and mistrust."

Sportacus shrugged before noticing the grim look on his nephew's face. "Clyde? Are you okay?"

"Uhh… yeah. Sure. I guess." His eyes jolted left and right.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I just…"

"You just what?"

"Uncle Sporty, have you ever been afraid of losing someone you love over something so stupid and childish that isn't even worth worrying about in the first place?"

"Okay, what did you do?" He sighed.

"I went to a jazz club and sang to a girl who was hitting on me while Steph was somewhere else! Aah!" Clyde's voice broke.

Sportacus looked over to his parents, who just shrugged, and raised an eyebrow to his nephew. "…And?"

"And! And… And… well, that's it actually."

"Oh wow." Sportacus' voice said dully. "My gosh. What ever. Are. You. To. Do."

"Okay, fine! Make fun of me! Maybe it wasn't a big deal but something inside me wanted me to go after her!"

"Clyde…" The hero in blue put an arm around his nephew. "Welcome to manhood."

"What? It's normal?"

"In a way. We men can't help but drool after every skirt and smile that gives us a mild sensation. Right, dad?"

"No." Hallbjörn said, afraid his wife would knock him upside the head. "I'm a one woman man."

"Me too, gramps!" Clyde nodded.

Sportacus just laughed. "You really do love Stephanie, don't you?"

"How could I not? She's everything to me!"

"Then don't worry yourself over that other girl! You know deep down inside who it is you want to be with! And in the long run, you'll see it's all worth it!"

"You're right." 

"Of course I am. Love is like oxygen! Love is a many splendored thing! Love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is lo--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Clyde interrupted. "Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you there Uncle Sporty. I've seen that movie and it doesn't end well. The bad guy wins. And we really don't want to think about something like that especially considering the state LazyTown's in right now."

"…Oh."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a girlfriend to meet!"

As Clyde went along his way, his grandparents and uncle watched with pride and admiration. Hallbjörn smiled and put his arm around his wife's waist.

"He's just like his father." He said. "So much love to give."

"Yeah…" Sportacus turned around, his mind now focused on his late brother. "…So much."

Outside her home, Stephanie waved goodbye to her uncle as he left for another day at the office. "I'll see you tonight, uncle!"

"I may be working late, dear. Don't wait up." He said as he passed by Clyde. "Oh hello, Clyde."

"Hi, mayor." The boy smiled.

"Well hello there!" Stephanie wrapped her arms around her boyfriend as they walked inside the house. "Sorry I can't stick around for long, I've got to meet with Demetrius in a minute."

"Yeah, I remember. I was on my way to meet with Pixel and the others. I just, uhh… wanted to… tell you something."

"About?"

"Well last night at the club, there was this girl and--"

"Oh, you mean Catalina?"

Clyde's jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he slowly backed away. "How the--"

"Trixie told me. She said there was some singing and dancing going on but--"

"Look, she means _NOTHING_ to me! You're the one I love! You! You! You!"

Stephanie couldn't help but giggle and plant a kiss on the boy's lips. "You're cute, you know that?"

"…Hummina-hummina?" He stammered.

"Oh quit being such a baby and walk me over to the tower!" She playfully nudged him.

"Okay…. Wait, what tower?"

Clyde's question was soon answered as he found himself looking up at the massive watchtower standing near the outskirts of town. The familiar looking billboard beside it was covered with barbed wire and sealed off with several sandbags.

"Is all this really necessary?" Clyde scratched his head.

"I guess so." Stephanie shrugged.

"Hey, doesn't somebody live around here?"

Stephanie nodded. "Behind the billboard, there's an entrance tunnel that leads to an underground lair where Robbie Rotten lives."

"Robbie Rotten?"

"The guy who helped me save LazyTown the first time."

"Oh right. Uncle Sporty's so-called 'nemesis' as it were."

"Hello, young Stephanie." Demetrius waved at the girl from the top of the tower. "What do you think of Tower One?"

"I…" Stephanie struggled for words as she gave the structure a once-over. "…I like it!"

Clyde waved at the monk then kissed Stephanie's cheek. "Okay, I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Demetrius smiled and motioned the girl to come up. "Come, child. We have much to talk about."

After getting adjusted to her surroundings and familiarizing the many turns and odd ends the seemingly small building had, Stephanie took a seat in the observation deck next to her old friend.

"You did all this in one day?" She asked.

"Yes." Demetrius ran his hand along the desk. "The CrazyTowners provided the tools and equipment while we from HazyTown helped with some tools of our own."

"You mean your magic?" 

The man nodded with a grin as an apple appeared with a flick of his wrist. "However did you know?"

She laughed and caught the sports candy that was tossed to her before two strangers walked in, wearing the same type of unitard as Demetrius. One of them was a thin, blond-haired woman and the other was a dark-haired, tanned young man with a small goatee.

"Oh good." Demetrius smiled. "You're here. Stephanie, I'd like you to meet Amelie Moussette and Salazar Vega."

"Hello." Stephanie shook their hands.

"Next to Astral, these two are my most trusted comrades."

"Are you guys magicians too?"

"We're in the early stages of mastering the art." The woman said in a revealing French accent. "Monsieur Demetrius was kind enough to take us in under his tutelage."

"Every day we learn to grow stronger." The man said in a mild Spanish accent. "We only hope we can be of great assistance to you when the time comes."

"Tell me, Stephanie…" Demetrius continued. "Have you noticed any changes within you?"

"Changes?" Stephanie thought for a moment. "What kind of changes?"

"Your magic. Has the Fire amulet even tried to corrupt you?"

"I don't think so. I hardly ever take it out of its hiding place. That way it's in less danger of getting taken from me."

"Smart girl. Then I suppose I don't have to remind you how dangerous it could be should Remus get his hands on that amulet."

"Don't worry. He won't."

"But have you trained with it at least? Discovered its secrets in order to assist you?"

"No. Like I told you, I hardly ever take it out."

"It wouldn't hurt to be prepared, young Stephanie." Amelie said. "After all, there's no telling when Remus will show up again."

"If he decides to…"


	12. Walk Away

**Chapter 12**

Later that day, Clyde stepped out of Pixel's house and started along the sidewalk when the gizmo guy called out to him. "Hey, don't worry about it! Next time we play, I'll be sure to beat you!"

"Sure you will." Clyde egged him on. "There's not a video game out there I can't spank you with!"

"I'm here whenever you want to go at it again, pretty boy!"

"See ya, Pixel."

"All right, man. Later."

As Pixel waved goodbye, Stingy, Ziggy and Trixie walked up behind their friend and waved as well. Pixel shut the door and headed back for his room with the others close behind. As they entered, Pixel noticed the screen on his computer displaying a series of streams blinking several random colors.

"Okay, guys." He said. "The analysis is ready."

Pixel sat down and examined the readings on his screen then pointed out the strange anomaly forming down the middle of the line.

"There it is." He pointed. "Right there."

"What are we looking at?" Trixie asked.

"Last night at exactly 9:01 pm at the Lazy Rock Café, my wristband sensors picked up a strange substance floating in the air."

"What kind of substance?"

"A pheromone of some kind. And at 9:01 and 35 seconds, that's when Clyde started to act funny."

"Yeah, singing to a girl who was obviously putting up a show for her audience. I can see he was acting like a real cornball, all right."

Pixel just frowned. "You don't believe me."

"I do." Ziggy raised his hand.

"Oh, Ziggy." Stingy shook his head. "You believed Robbie was an alien once."

"So did _you_!"

"Look!" Pixel regained control. "Don't you think it's a bit odd this new girl that neither of us have ever seen before shows up and starts making Clyde all goofy around the same time my sensors pick up on this pheromone that just happens to appear out of nowhere?"

"It's called being a man, Pixel! And if I remember correctly, you, Stingy and Ziggy were drooling all over her too!"

"Uh-oh! Somebody's jealous!" Stingy teased.

Without saying a word, Trixie grabbed Stingy by the neck and pinned him against the wall. "Don't even go there, Stingy."

"Y-yes ma'am." Stingy choked.

"Come on, Pixel." Trixie tried to reason with him. "Do you honestly think Remus would stoop as low as to sabotage Stephanie and Clyde's romance for his own personal gain? What sense would _that _make?"

"I don't know." Pixel shrugged. "Maybe… maybe he's after something that Stephanie has."

"Like what?"

There was a long and uncomfortable silence between the four friends until they realized what it was that Stephanie had that seemed so valuable.

"The amulet!" They all gasped in unison.

As Clyde walked along the sidewalks of the small town, he passed by a familiar corner and heard the music playing in the distance. Slowly he looked up to see the entrance to the Lazy Rock Café beckoning him inside. He rolled his eyes back and continued walking along the pavement until the eerie red mist found its way in through Clyde's nasal passages. The boy caught an enormous whiff unexpectedly and coughed at its intensity before succumbing to its power. In a trance, Clyde entered the café and stood still for a while before the stranger with the blue bow tie and shades greeted him.

"Hey, you're that guy from last night, right?" He asked.

"…Huh?" Clyde looked around, sniffing the air.

"Yeah, I thought I'd recognized you. If you're looking for Catalina, she's in the back."

"Oh, thank you. I was gonna go over there and--NO!" Clyde shook his head, breaking away from the spell. "No! No…"

Clyde headed back for the door but something inside him pulled him further inside the café. He walked along the bar and took a quick glimpse of Catalina, who was sitting at one of the tables in the very back of the room. Clenching his fists, Clyde turned his attention elsewhere and took a seat on one of the stools.

"So what'll it be?" The green-haired young man behind the counter asked.

After taking another glimpse, Clyde returned his attention to the counter. "Lemonade! Fast!"

"Coming up!"

The disguised Goggi turned around and filled a glass with the ice-cold beverage then took out a small vial of pink liquid. He slowly put a few drops into the drink and watched as the glass fizzed and emanated more of the mysterious red mist. When Clyde received his drink, he chugged it down fast and twitched at the strange bold flavor.

"Oh, God! What was that!?" He wiped his mouth.

"New recipe." Goggi shrugged, deceiving the boy.

"You should have the left the old one alone! This one's nasty! I hate it! It's revolting!"

"More?"

"Please!"

The trick was working. Clyde's judgment was beginning to impair and after several lemonades, he finally got up from the stool and joined Catalina in the back. The black-haired beauty noticed the red aura surrounding Clyde and grinned devilishly at him.

"Well hello there, stranger." She said as Clyde took a seat next to her.

"Hiya." He goofily smiled.

"I've been thinking about you, you know."

"Really?"

"Yes. And I'm sorry but what's your name?"

"C-C-Clyde…" The boy stammered as his subconscious tried to fight the spell.

"You're a good singer, Clyde. I've been thinking of changing my solo act into a duet for a while but I haven't found anyone to make sweet music with."

She then ran her hand along Clyde's smooth face and played with his dark hair for a little bit. Clyde just sat there, smiling yet shaking at the same time. It was obvious to her that he was fighting on the inside but weakening on the outside.

"Tell me, Clyde." She continued. "Do you want to make sweet music together?"

"Y-y-N-n--" Clyde shifted between answers as his hands shook.

"What's wrong, Clyde?"

"SHPADOINKLE!" He answered in a petrified yell.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I… I have no idea."

While Catalina continued to seduce Clyde, Stephanie poked her head inside the café and looked around for her boyfriend.

"You're with _that_ guy, right?" The disguised Hodge pointed at Clyde and Catalina in the back.

Stephanie turned and was surprised to see him sitting with a raven-haired stranger. "Yeah, that's him. Who's that girl he's talking to?"

"Oh her? That's Catalina."

"Catalina?" A worried look slowly spread across her face. "How long have they been back there?"

"Not too long."

"…Uhh… excuse me…" Stephanie turned around and started to walk away as Hodge smiled.

"It's working." He said to himself. "She's not even going to try and break them apart."

Goggi walked up to his companion and nodded. "It's so sad, really."

"Hey."

"What?"

"You wanna mess with her?"

"…Okay."

The two quickly caught up to Stephanie and walked with her, trying to play with her head. Goggi offered a drink but the girl shook her head and continued walking.

"It's a shame, really." Hodge began. "You two seemed like such a nice couple?"

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie asked suspiciously. "He's just talking to her. That's all."

"Oh, that's so cute." Goggi teased. "You have faith in him!"

"Of course I do. That's what you do with someone you love. You trust them."

"Yeah, I can see he loves you a lot!"

"Look, I don't mean to sound rude but it's really none of your business."

"Hey, we're just looking out for one of our own, is all!" Hodge said defensively.

"One of your own?"

"Oh, uhh… well, I mean--"

Goggi shoved his friend away and finished his sentence. "What he's trying to say is that we're just looking out for our fellow high school chum."

"High school chum?" Stephanie repeated the words with an almost repulsed look on her face. "I've never seen either of you before."

"Face it, cutie." Hodge continued. "I'd open my eyes and see what's really going on between those two!"

"Nothing is going on!"

"Oh really?" Goggi asked before he tried to spell it out to her:

_Taking your time. Choosing your lines. _

_Trying to decide what to do. _

_Looks like your stop. You don't want to get off. _

_Got yourself hung up on him._

Soon Halla and Sweetchuck, heavily disguised, joined Hodge and Goggi to gang up on the pink-haired girl:

_(Seems to me!)_

_You don't want to talk about it._

_(Seems to me!)_

_You just turn your pretty head and walk away. _

_Yup. Walk away. _

As they continued walking, Stephanie turned the other way and returned to the café where she could see Clyde and Catalina through the window. Soon the negative thoughts she tried so hard to fight back were starting to surface as she thought aloud to herself:

_Places I've known. Things that I'm growing. _

_Don't seem the same without you. _

_I got myself in the worst mess I've been. _

_And I find myself starting to doubt you. _

"Uh-oh!" The doppelgangers gasped as they helped Steph sing:

_(Comes today!)_

_Talk all night, here comes the morning. _

_(Come what may!) _

_You just forget what we said and greet the day._

_Walk away!_

_Walk away_

_Walk away!_

_I've got to cool myself down. _

_Stomping around!_

_Thinking some words I can't name ya!_

_If it's okay. I got nothing to say. _

_Still I don't suppose I can blame ya!_

Saddened and distraught, Stephanie continued on home while the doppelgangers remained at their post, waving goodbye to the girl and laughing maniacally.

"Bye-bye, Pinky!" Goggi giggled.

"That was too easy!" Halla exclaimed.

"Yes it was, Halla!"

_(Seems to me!)_

_You don't want to talk about it._

_(Seems to me!)_

_You just turn your pretty head and walk away!_

_Ohhh!_

_Walk away!_

_Walk! Walk! Walk!_

_Walk away!_

As Stephanie vanished from their sights, Goggi and his friends looked back into the window where Catalina clung on to Clyde's arm.

"And now…" Goggi looked at his wrist monitor. "…Time for Step 2."

That very night, Robbie slept like a baby on his fuzzy orange chair only to be awaken by a leather-gloved hand placed firmly around his mouth. Robbie struggled to scream and get up but the three individuals in night suits prevented him from doing so. A fourth member stood directly in front of Robbie and took out a blade from its boot strap.

"Uh-oh." Robbie was able to mouth.

The ringleader slowly approached Robbie and raised the blade up to his face. Wincing and fearing for the worst, Robbie took a deep breath and prepared to meet his maker. That's when the unexpected happened. Opening one eye, Robbie could see a segment of his greasy hair being cut off by the blade and placed into a small plastic baggie.

When the job was done, the three strangers let go of Robbie and headed back up to the surface. Confused and angry, Robbie pulled out a mallet from under his seat and swung around the room, demanding answers.

"Okay, who are you people and what do you want!?"

"We mean you no harm." The leader's distorted voice said. "This is merely for an experiment of ours."

"Liar!"

Robbie took a swing but the execution greatly backfired, seeing as how the giant hammer weighed too much for him. Out of breath, Robbie fell back into his chair as the stranger in black extended one of its arms.

"Sleep now, Rotten. For tomorrow this will only have been a dream."

"What are you talking ab--"

"Sleep."

And with that, a small stream of white odorless gas sprayed from the stranger's hand and onto Robbie's face, knocking him out cold for the rest of the night. And for the morning that would soon follow, the stranger's words will ring true. It will all have been a dream.


	13. Camp It Up!

**_A/N: ...I hate that document manager. Anyways, this next chapter doesn't have an Eagles song or ANY song for that matter. No, this one has more of a funny cadence I couldn't resist posting any longer. You can see it for yourselves on my profile if you think I'm making this up. Anyhoo..._**

**Chapter 13**

The next morning, Clyde awoke in another panic until he realized he was back in his airship safe and sound. But the problem was he didn't know how he got there. He looked around as he caught his breath and checked his clock.

"Nine in the morning." He said softly. "How did I get here?"

The dark-haired boy got up from his bed and changed into his usual outfit before fixing his breakfast. As he sat down to eat, an image flashed before his very eyes. Raven hair, mysterious dark brown eyes and an eerie red glow were all that he could see.

"Okay…" He started to breathe heavily. "…What happened last night? Where did I go? Why can't I remember?"

* * *

That same morning, Robbie slowly opened his eyes to an extreme close-up of Rottenella's face. With a nervous yell, he backed away and hid behind his blanket as his assistant sighed with relief.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay." She said.

"Don't ever do that again!" Robbie snapped.

"Sorry, I was just concerned."

"Well I'm fine. I just… had the _weirdest _dream…"

"Another one?"

"Yeah." Robbie sighed as he looked around the chair. "Where's my journal?"

"What journal?"

"The one where I document all my--" Robbie stopped himself from revealing his secret and tried to change the subject. "Uhh… Look, let's not sit around all day doing nothing! It's nice outside! How 'bout we go for a walk, huh?"

"Are you serious?"

"Just come on before I change my mind!" Robbie growled as he got up from his chair.

The resident villain ran his hands through his hair as he passed by the mirror on the wall then immediately got the feeling something was wrong. He quickly returned to the mirror and closely examined his face until he discovered the single most insignificant minor detail that a normal human being wouldn't have noticed so soon.

"What is it, boss?"

"MY SPIT-CURL!" He cried. "It's gone!"

"You had a spit-curl?"

"Of course I did!"

"And you're able to pick up on the loss of one teeny, insignificant, greasy, black hair with a single glance?"

"Of course!"

Robbie hurried over to his chalkboard and pulled down a slide which displayed a highly detailed grid chart of Robbie's cranium where the hairs were all individually numbered. This, of course, caught Rottenella off guard.

"Notice the chart." Robbie struck the grid with his pointer. "Hair #289,468 is missing!"

"Wow." She said. "Really?"

"When you learn to love me as much as I do, you tend to pay attention to every detail."

"I really didn't notice it was missing, boss."

"It's gone, don't you see!? It's like--" Then it dawned on him. Robbie froze in place with his finger on his forehead and his eyes widening.

Rottenella was uncomfortable with the silence and tried to snap Robbie out of it. "Boss? You sure you're okay? You're kind of freaking me out here."

"Then that means… The dream…" Robbie uttered under his breath. "…It really happened."

"What are you talking about?"

"…Nothing."

With another lie, Robbie left the room and headed for the top hatch while Rottenella stood in the middle of the room, looking a bit concerned.

"Oh, Robbie…" She sighed.

She then noticed the mysterious journal casually sitting on Robbie's fuzzy recliner. She gazed at its smooth brown leather cover then looked back up at the hatch. After a few moments of this repetitive movement, the temptation finally sunk in and Rottenella picked up the book and started flipping through the pages. If she was ever to get closer to Robbie, then the book might have had a solution.

* * *

In her room, Stephanie laid on her bed while examining the Fire amulet in her hand. The gold was still shiny and the bright red gem in the center glared before her very eyes. It had been over a year now and Remus had not returned. She was starting to think maybe he had given up and abandoned his quest for revenge but deep down she knew she was wrong.

Stephanie, of course, had other things on her mind. Specifically Clyde. Her doubts about him and the negative feelings she tried so hard to avoid were now starting to pound at her chest like a cannon. Were those mysterious strangers right? Or was she just letting her imagination get the best of her?

The knock on the door suddenly broke her train of thought. "Come in." She said.

Clyde walked in with a smile on his face and took a seat next to his pink-haired angel. She put on a smile to keep face as his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"I thought you were gonna come outside and play with us today." He said.

"I'm sorry." She closed her eyes. "I totally forgot. I've just been… I don't know."

Clyde noticed the amulet in her hand and picked it up. "The amulet? Steph, you're not using it are you?"

"I don't know. Demetrius said I should be ready just in case."

"It's been over a year now. I don't think Remus is ever coming back."

"I want to believe that, Clyde. I really do. But what if this is part of his plan? To wait it out until we let our guard down. Then it'll be the perfect opportunity for him to strike."

"Maybe you're right."

There was a momentary silence before Stephanie bit the bullet. "Clyde, where were you yesterday?"

"I was with Pixel." He looked deep into her brown eyes. "Remember?"

"Yeah. You must have come home pretty late."

"Well, I don't know." Clyde suddenly got up from the bed. "I don't remember when I got home. Everything after Pixel's house is kind of a blur."

"Really?" Stephanie was now clinging onto some kind of hope.

"Stephanie, I woke up in my airship but I don't remember how I got there. It's like I'm missing a few hours of my life."

"How?"

"If I knew, I'd…" Clyde then had a vision of Catalina's face flashing before his eyes. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes, trying hard to remember where he was.

"Clyde, what's wrong?" Stephanie got up and stood behind him.

"I remember…" Clyde started as his eyes remained shut. "…I remember walking past the Lazy Rock."

"The jazz café? What about it?"

Stephanie remembered where he was but decided to keep quiet about it and play along to see if he would open up to her. Clyde paced around the room, rubbing his temples as he continued retracing his steps.

"I spoke to Catalina…" He continued. "…I don't know why…"

"You don't know why? Did she call you over?"

"Maybe… There was this… eerie red glow…"

"Red glow?" Stephanie thought for a moment, trying to remember something like that. "What red glow?"

"I don't know but there was this odd fragrance that followed soon after."

"Did she wear perfume?"

"Probably but… Ugh." His mouth started to gag. "That lemonade. It tasted awful yet mildly refreshing…"

"Clyde, what happened to you?" Stephanie now worried.

"We were just talking… and then… Oh, God. Why can't I remember?"

Stephanie put her arms around the boy and rested her head against his chest. "It's okay. I think I know a way to help you remember."

* * *

Outside his airship, Sportacus kept a vigilant watch on the town as the neighborhood kids played. After a few moments, his crystal went off and like a bolt of lightning, so did he. Sportacus arrived in the park and looked around for any signs of danger but couldn't find one.

"Sportacus! Sportacus!" Little Gloria ran up to him.

"What is it, Gloria?" The blue elf asked.

"It's Mr. Dumpy! He's stuck in the tree!"

"Mr. Dumpy?"

"My kitty cat!"

"Oh, you're kitty--wait." He gave her a strange look. "Mr. Dumpy?"

"Have you _seen_ the mess he makes in the litter box?"

With a grimace, Sportacus hurried over to the tall apple tree and looked up to see the cowering, gray and black tabby cornered near one of the branches.

"Uh-oh." He said. "Don't worry, little kitty. I'll get you down from there."

But before he could act, a large net shot into the air and wrapped itself around the kitten, bringing it to the floor. Gloria shrieked as the small group of heavily armed Trinity Watchmen surrounded the seized kitten and aimed their guns at it.

"Sir! Target has been acquired!" Yelled a HazyTowner.

"Good job, Tanner!" The commanding CrazyTowner said as he picked up the net. "This little kitten is safe and sound."

"Safe and sound!?" Sportacus freaked. "You call that thing safe!?"

"Of course it is! It was in danger and now it's not!"

"But look, the poor thing's crying and trying to claw its way out!"

"Oh, it doesn't know any better!"

"Mr. Dumpy!!!" Gloria started to sob.

"Give me that!" Sportacus snatched the net and freed the kitten. "That's no way to treat a harmless animal!"

"Hey!" The CrazyTowner pointed his gun at him. "Are you telling me how to do my job!"

"…Yes."

"Oh." He put his weapon down. "Fair enough."

"A BEEEEEEE!!!" Little Ritchie came running up to the group of men. "Sportacus! There's a bee flying around and it's chasing me!"

"A bee? Where?" Sportacus looked around and saw the buzzing insect landing on the fear-stricken boy's shoulder. "Wait! I see it! Don't move!"

"Please, Sportacus!" Ritchie sobbed. "I'm allergic!"

"EVERYBODY DOWN NOW!" The commanding Watchman shouted.

As everyone complied, the bee swerved off and tried to escape until the Watchmen aimed their weapons toward it.

"OKAY, MEN! FIRE!!!"

"What!?" Sportacus shrieked as he grabbed the two children and brought them down to the floor.

Soon, a storm of rapid machine gun fire blasted away at the ground and tore chunks and pieces off the earth while everyone in town turned to see what was going on. As the hail of gunfire continued, one of the HazyTowners pulled out a large flamethrower and finished off the seemingly harmless bee. Once the fire was put out, the commanding officer walked towards the huge gaping hole in the ground and finished off the remains of the insect with an Uzi.

"There we go." He grinned. "He's dead. Better skin him just to be safe. Jasper?"

"Yee-haw!" Jasper hooted as he dropped the flamethrower and revealed himself to the crowd.

The old man hurried over to the crater and picked up a piece of the charred insect and skinned the wing off with his whittling knife.

"Yes siree! I done took care of the varmint for ya, Sarge!" Jasper chuckled as he handed over the body to his commanding officer.

"Excellent work, Jasper! Good work, men! You've all done an exemplary job!" The Sergeant congratulated them.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Sportacus shook his head in disbelief.

The Trinity Watchmen then gathered around to stand in formation as the Sergeant walked in front of them. Once the men were all lined up in rows, their commander began to lead them in a cadence.

"ALL RIGHT SQUAD!" He ordered. "CAMP IT UP!"

The men complied and clicked their heels together, beginning their march down the square in an orderly and manly fashion until they began their chant in a loose, feminine tone with a march to match it:

_Ooh! Get her! Whoops!_

_I've got your number, ducky!_

_You couldn't afford me, dear. _

_Two! Three! _

_I'll scratch your eyes out._

The men then spread out and began to effeminately do the cancan whilst continuing their flamboyant cadence:

_Don't come the brigadier bit with us, dear. _

_We all know where you've been._

_You military fairy!_

The squad turned around and did yet another silly walk with their left hands dangling straight out and right hands to the hip:

_Whoops! Don't look now, girls. _

_The major's just minced in with that dolly color sergeant. _

_Two! Three!_

_Oooohh!!!_

After one final girly pose, the men stood back in attention with their typically male and so-called dignified stance as Sportacus stood around confused.

"…What just happened?" He looked around, not expecting an answer.

* * *

Outside the golden gates, Astral and his companions stood idly by for someone to greet them. It had been over an hour and still no signs of life.

"Are you sure this is the right place!?" Bob growled impatiently.

"I am certain. Those gates are one of a kind." Astral said.

"Don't you mean two of a kind? I mean, 'cuz there's like _two_ of 'em. Y'know?"

"Oh will you pleath schut up!?" The Professor whined. "I'm tired of hearing you talk on and on and on about nothing! Tho jutht pleath be quiet!"

"Aw, shut yer trap Lispy McGee!"

Camouflaged in their surroundings, the seemingly invisible stranger slithered past one of the small mounds of rock that stood behind the gates. As a small stone rattled onto the floor, Astral immediately got the sense they were not alone in the cave.

"Did you hear that?" He looked around.

"Hear what?" Bob pointed one of his ears forward.

"Someone's here."

"Who?"

"I am… not certain but…"

A sudden blow to the stomach forced the old magician back as The Professor and Dramatik found themselves swept off their feet. Bob tried to hop away but his ears were suddenly grabbed by an unknown force. As the chubby pink rabbit hovered in midair with his ears twisted around, a light began to shine from behind the gates.

"Oh no!" Bob panicked. "We're gonna meet the big guy! That's it! We're done for!"

Suddenly, Bob's ears were released and the chubby bunny fell to the floor on his fluffy pink butt. Several men in gold and silver armor, wielding spears and shields hurried out of the gates as they pulled open. The three men and the pink rabbit were soon surrounded by various pointed and life-threatening objects.

"Uh-oh." Bob curled up inside the hood of Astral's robe.

"Who are you?" The leader asked. "How did you find this place."

"My name is Astral Fulgore." The old man said calmly. "I am… _was_… a member of the Mutari Council."

"What business do you have here?"

"I seek the help of the Council. It is an urgent matter that can't wait any longer."

The men stood quiet and refused to allow them passage until an idea blossomed in Dramatik's simple yet seriously warped mind.

"Allow me, brothers." The British thespian bravely stepped forward. "O hear my words, yon men of such valor and dignity! Gather 'round and hear a tale of whence I came from! A tale of love! Danger! A girl with bright pink hair and a soul of great courage! I speak of Stephanie the Brave! Sportacus the True! Clydesdale the Just! The Trinity, my home! _Our_ home! A dark evil presides over us all and we must not dawdle any longer! Together we can defeat our common enemy and let peace prevail once more! What say you, men! Will you join us and help us cast out this evil!?"

"Beat him up." The leader snapped his fingers.

_**POW!**___

WHACK!

THWACK!

BOP!

CRASH! 

"What!? How dare you!? Ohhh! The pain! The pain!!!!"


	14. Heartache Tonight

**Chapter 14**

Clyde sat down before Demetrius inside Tower One. Their eyes were closed as Demetrius held his hands against Clyde's face and studied his mind. The monk concentrated hard on finding the events of the previous day that Clyde had forgotten about as Stephanie, Amelie and Salazar stood by, watching.

"I sense… _tension_ within you, son." Demetrius said in a low voice. "…Something is troubling you…"

"…Yes." Clyde admitted.

"…I see the café."

"The Lazy Rock."

"I see a girl."

"…Yes."

"A girl?" Stephanie gulped.

"Yes, a young woman." Demetrius continued. "…It's you, Stephanie."

"Oh." She sighed with relief.

"…But why are you…"

"Why am I what?"

Images began to flash in both Clyde's and Demetrius' minds. Images of Clyde being seduced by Remus' creation and trails of the mysterious red mist trailing in the air. A sudden flash of red light then showed Catalina shrouding herself over Clyde and whispering into his ear.

"You and I belong to each other, Clyde…" Her voice echoed. "No one can tear us apart."

"…But Stephanie…" Clyde muttered in a trance coinciding with his flashback. "…I love Stephanie…"

"I'm everything she is and more, Clyde… Don't defy me…"

Then another flashing red image of Remus cackling like a maniac and slitting his hand with a blade came into view, breaking Demetrius' connection with the young man. When they opened their eyes, sweating and breathing heavily, Amelie and Salazar gave each other concerned looks.

"What was it, Demetrius?" Amelie asked. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know…" The monk took a moment to catch his breath. "… But I have reason to believe Remus is behind this."

"…But what about Catalina?" Clyde stood up.

"Oh _her_ again…" Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"No, I think she might be connected to him somehow."

"But you mentioned Stephanie's name as well." Salazar pointed out.

"Oh _mon dieu_." Amelie put her hand to her mouth. "Demetrius, _Ça ne pas être sage! _This cannot be good! What if Remus has somehow found a way to control people's minds and force them to do his bidding?"

"Remain calm, Amelie." Demetrius put his hand up.

"I've got to talk to Catalina." Clyde said as he headed for the door.

"Clyde, wait!" Stephanie ran after him.

As they hurried down the flight of steps to the base of the tower, Stephanie finally managed to Stop Clyde in his tracks. She put her hands on his and looked deep into his green eyes.

"Clyde, I don't want you to go to her again." She said worriedly. "I have a feeling something bad will happen this time."

"Stephanie, I've got to get to the bottom of this." He told her. "After everything weird that's happened, I think we can finally find out what Remus is up to."

"But I don't understand what this Catalina girl has to do with any of it. Why did Demetrius see me in those images? Why does she suddenly pop up when my name is mentioned?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out. Just stay here until I come back."

With that said, Clyde planted a kiss on the girl's lips and hurried off as Stingy, Trixie, Pixel and Ziggy approached her from behind.

"Is everything okay, Stephanie?" Ziggy asked.

"Oh…" Stephanie said as she tried to hide the tears from her eyes. "…Hi, guys. What's up?"

Pixel could see the fake smile on his friend's face and sighed. "Look, we heard everything."

"You did?"

"Yeah, Pinky." Trixie nodded. "I don't know what Clyde is planning to do with this Catalina chick but I know it's for the well-being of you, us and all of LazyTown."

"I hope you're right." Stephanie sniffled as she turned and headed back to the tower.

Trixie waited until her best friend was out of sight then sighed heavily with grief. She leaned against Stingy and rubbed her fingers against her forehead.

"Oh these two are headed for Heartbreak Ridge for sure." She groaned.

"What do you mean?" Ziggy asked with a pure look of innocence in his eye. "Stephanie and Clyde love each other!"

"Yeah but things change, Ziggy." Pixel shook his head. "The way Clyde's been spending time with Catalina lately, it looks like Stephanie's a thing of the past."

"What!?" Stingy suddenly burst. "We can't let them win! Remus is behind this! _I_ know it! _You _know it!"

"But _they_ don't know it." Trixie interrupted. "Not yet anyway. Not for sure. We have to let Clyde figure this all out first."

"So what do _we_ do?" Ziggy impatiently stood around.

"I don't know. But what I _do_ know is that someone is bound to get their heart broken."

Trixie glumly looked down on the ground and put her hands in her pockets as she walked over to the soccer field. Ziggy, Stingy and Pixel did the same thing and followed Trixie as they voiced their prediction:

_Somebody's gonna hurt someone. Before the night is through._

_Somebody's gonna come undone. There's nothing we can do._

_Everybody wants to touch somebody. If it takes all night. _

_Everybody wants to take a little chance. Make it come out right._

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know! _

_Lord, I know!_

Trixie looked up and noticed the sun starting to set. She shook her head and explained to her friends:

_Now some people like to stay out late. _

_Some folks can't hold out that long._

_But nobody wants to go home now. _

_There's too much going on._

Stingy nodded in agreement and shared his own thoughts:

_This night is gonna last forever. _

_Last all, last all summer long._

_Some time before the sun comes up,_

_The radio's gonna play that song. _

The four friends covered their ears, fell to the floor then looked up to the heavens and shouted:

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

_Lord, I know!_

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! The moon's shining bright!_

_So turn out the light and we'll get it right!_

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

Soon they all got back up on their feet and joined arms, skipping around town singing their hip and upbeat yet mildly depressing song to the people of LazyTown:

_Somebody's gonna hurt someone. Before the night is through._

_Somebody's gonna come undone. There's nothing we can do._

_Everybody wants to touch somebody. If it takes all night. _

_Everybody wants to take a little chance. Make it come out right._

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know! _

_We can beat around the bushes, we can get down to the bone!_

_We can leave it in the parking lot! But either way, _

_There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!_

_There's gonna be a--_

Suddenly, the four stopped in their tracks as Trixie came to a realization:

"Wait a minute, why are we singing about this!? This sucks!"

* * *

"I want to speak to a lawyer!" Bob demanded as he held onto the steel bars before him.

He and his companions were taken in by the Mutari guardsmen and locked away in a dark cell hidden behind the golden walls of the ancient city. After much protest, the guards decided it best to remind them who was in charge. They decided Dramatik would be made an example of and beat the living crap out of him some more. However, When Astral, Bob and the Professor continued to lack discipline and order, Dramatik felt the iron hand of the law once again. After several cycles of rinse and repeat, and when Dramatik finally passed out, Astral and the gang were placed in a holding cell beneath their superiors until judgment could be passed on them.

"This ain't fair!" Bob spat on the ground. "Those jerks are makin' a big mistake! How do they expect us to save the world when we's down here rottin' like a couple of eggs!?"

"Be patient, Bob." Astral said calmly as he sat on the stone bench. "We will wait until they send one of the centurions to take us up. The council will have to hear our story first before they can pass judgment."

"Well I hope yer right."

"Oh the thuthpenth ith killing me!" The Professor gleamed like a fool. "I can't wait to thee what the thity lookth like!"

"Oh, the pain…" Dramatik's barely audible voice droned on as he laid on his back on another stone slab. "…The pain… never before have I experienced such a thrashing. Such magnificent precision in preserving the sheer agony that is now running down my backside… And now my front and my sides are splitting. Burning! Bruising! Bleeding!"

"Hey, thith guyth creeping me out. Athtral, I thay we finith the job!"

"No one's laying a finger on Dramatik." Astral shook his head. "He's been through enough."

The Professor nodded. "Fine. You know, what got me all confuthed ith who in the heck beat the crap out of uth?"

"Oh you mean when we was standin' outside them gates!?" Bob hopped on the man's shoulder.

"Yeth, exactly! Athtral, you remember! It looked like thumone kicked you in the chetht and--"

"His name is Chameleon." Astral answered. "I should have known he would be here."

"Chameleon?"

"He is the personal assassin of one of the most powerful dark magicians ever to have set foot in this sacred city."

"Dark magician?" Bob scoffed. "Are you kiddin' me? Worse than Remus?"

"Much worse. His name was Reiko Jynn-Khan. He taught me all about the dark arts."

"What do you mean he taught ya?"

"I was his apprentice. He was the one who created the magic amulets and intended to use them for his own evil deeds. But when the council forced him out of power, he bestowed them onto me until I too was defeated. They took 3 of the 4 and scattered them throughout the land. I kept the Earth amulet until Remus took it from me and Stephanie now has the Fire amulet in her possession."

"So I'm guessin' yer hopin' that maybe they know where the other two amulets are?"

"Yes."

"So that would be, uhh… let's see… Water?"

"Yes."

"Water and, uhh…"

"Chocolate!" The Professor blurted out.

Bob just gave him a dirty look. "Chocolate!? What, are you on medication or something!?

"Thorry. I got ecthited."

"So where is this Chameleon now?" Dramatik asked as he remained flat on his back.

"He's not in this room, I can tell you." Astral said with his eyes closed, as if he could actually sense the man's presence.

"What duth he want?" The Professor lisped. "If hith matter ith dead then--"

"He is not dead." Astral said as he opened his eyes. "He's here. Alive and… well, he's alive. So it would seem. And if I'm right, Chameleon has followed us here to release him from his cell."

"Aah!" Bob hopped off the Professor's shoulder in a frenzy. "He's in here wit us!? Why didn't you warn us, ya big palooka!?"

"Not this type of cell, Bob."

"Huh?"

Elsewhere, in an even darker part of the great city of gold, the assassin now known as Chameleon wandered through the rocky edges of a hidden temple. As he camouflaged himself with the grayscale of the dark walls, he managed to get past the Mutari guards and approach a mounted statue of gold. The figure stood tall in a casual pose as if to say to his captors that he does not fear death nor will he ever. The Chameleon neutralized his camouflage abilities and revealed his skintight suit of black. He then kneeled before the figure before him.

"Master Reiko." He said softly. "I have returned for you."


	15. New Kid In Town

**Chapter 15**

Clyde searched high and low for Catalina but the raven-haired girl was nowhere to be found. The owner of the Lazy Rock Café assumed she took her act elsewhere but that didn't prove to be very useful to the boy. Night had already descended and as the lampposts flickered on throughout all of LazyTown, the Trinity Watch stood guard in the watchtowers.

"Where could she have gone?" Clyde asked no one in particular as he wandered around the courtyard.

"Oh come on, Clyde." A familiar voice said from behind a wall.

"Catalina."

Stephanie's clone stepped out of the shadows and winked at the boy. "Do you really think I spend all my time at that silly jazz café?"

"We need to talk."

"I agree. When are you going to stop the charade and admit we belong together?"

"We don't. I love somebody else."

"Who? That Stephanie you keep talking about?"

"Stephanie…" Clyde paused to reflect for a moment and suddenly realized why he was so drawn to Catalina in the first place. "…Wait a minute. _You're_ Stephanie."

"No, I'm not." She shook her head.

"Yes, you are! I'd recognize that face anywhere!"

"Funny how you failed to mention that until now."

"I just…" Clyde paused again to think. "…But if you're not Stephanie, then who--"

"That's enough, Clyde!" Catalina lost her temper as she shrouded the boy with an entire cloud of the eerie red mist. "I didn't want it to come down to this but you've left me no choice."

"Catalina…" Clyde began to choke as he fell to his knees. "…What are you doing to me? Why…"

"No more talking. You _will_ remember our love for each other. We _will _be together."

"…But I don't… know you… _love_… you…"

"You will soon."

Clyde's eyes then briefly emitted a crackle of red static as he fell under the trance indefinitely. He struggled to fight the spell but his mind was eventually fogged up and forced him to become a mindless slave.

"…Yes, my love." He said as he fell to his knees.

Catalina smiled and extended her hand for Clyde to kiss. As she reveled in his newfound affection for her, Goggi and the doppelgangers materialized behind the dark-haired beauty.

"You did it." Goggi congratulated her. "You finally got back together with him."

"He's mine for sure?" Catalina asked. "No one will stand in our way?"

"No one. I'll make sure of it."

"I believe you. But just in case…"

Catalina then put her hand to Clyde's face and moved in on him. Once her lips met his, another crackle of red energy spread throughout Clyde's body and plunged him even further under her spell.

"Looks like we move on to step 2." Halla snickered.

Goggi nodded. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

* * *

Robbie came home that night and was shocked to find Rottenella sitting in his chair, reading his personal journal and uncovering his dark secrets.

"ROTTENELLA!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Oh crap." She immediately closed the book. "Hi boss!"

"What are you doing with that!?" He snatched the book away. "How much did you read!?"

"Um…"

"Answer me!"

"Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you." She paused for a moment. "…Good night!"

"Rottenella!"

"A-almost all of it?"

"Why?"

"Well you sort of left it out in the open and when you left, I kind of figured you wouldn't mind if I took a look at it and--"

"No one is supposed to read this but _me_! Understand!?"

"Well I do _now_!"

"You should have known better."

"Boss, I'm sorry! I just wanted to--"

"Wanted to what!? Ridicule me!? Get some dirt on your big, mean boss and hand it over to everyone in town!? Are you in cahoots with the mayor!? Are you trying to drive me out of town!?"

"No, boss! I don't want to do that!"

"Then what is it!?"

"I just wanted to get closer to you is all! I feel so cut off from your life!"

"What does it matter to you anyway!?"

"Boss, I seriously think there's another reason you brought me back and made me human. And to be honest, I don't think getting rid of Sportacus had anything to do with it."

Robbie stood quiet for a moment and studied Rottenella's teary face. "…Go to sleep, Rottenella."

"Boss, your nightmares aren't going to end unless you have someone to talk to about them."

Robbie turned around and faced the other side of the room, his arms crossed. "…I don't need anybody."

"…That's why you brought me back, isn't it?"

"I was…" He looked down as he got a lump in his throat. "…I was lonely. Sportakook was gone, Stephanie was always busy and the mayor and I have never really gotten along. And the kids… well, don't even get me started with _them_."

"But this whole time that I was reanimated, you never took the time to tell me what you were feeling. What was on your mind. Or… what you were afraid of."

"Afraid?"

"These don't seem like ordinary nightmares to me, Boss."

With a heavy sigh, Robbie clasped his book tightly and headed into his bedroom. "…Good night."

* * *

"Mayor, the Trinity Watch is insane!" Sportacus said to Milford as he stood before him in his office.

Milford sighed as he put his head on his desk. "Yes, I know. But Chief Cosgrove insists they're doing the right thing."

"Well quite frankly, I'm starting to doubt his methods."

"Milford, he's right." Bessie nodded in agreement. "Why, just this morning I saw two HazyTowners pounce on a little girl just for dropping a candy bar wrapper on the floor."

"It must have a been a pretty big wrapper." Milford said defensively.

"They trapped her in a net and chloroformed the poor thing!"

"Umm…"

"Mayor, there's no point in trying to defend him." Sportacus added some more. "Cosgrove has obviously led them to believe that the situation in this town is more severe than it really is."

"B-b-but, he's the police chief." Milford stammered.

"And _you're_ the mayor!" Bessie butt in. "You have the authority to relieve him and have someone else take his place."

"But who?"

* * *

The next morning, a beat up old truck remained parked outside a local diner, where the short and pudgy Englishman entered the vehicle with a cup of coffee in hand. His thin blond partner woke up to the door shutting and looked around his surroundings.

"We there yet?" He asked in his cockney accent.

"That we are, mate." The pudgy one nodded as he took a sip from his cup. "I just had to get me a cup of coffee first, is all."

"Oh, good. You get me one?"

"No."

"You cheap bastard."

"I only had enough for one."

"Oh. Well give us a sip then." He said as he reached for the cup.

"Sod off." The pudgy one pulled his beverage away. "I don't want to catch any of that mental schizophrenia hodge-podge what's been doin' circles in yer head."

"It's not contagious, you twonk!"

"My thoughts remain the same." He then handed him the lid. " 'Ere, you want to lick the lid?"

"Get stuffed."

"All right, then…" He shrugged as he readied to toss the piece of plastic outside the window.

"Hang on…" The thin one swiped the lid and began licking it, much to his disgust. "…Decaf? You wanker!"

Annoyed, the thin one flung the lid outside the window as his partner started the engine. But before they could go anywhere, a sudden knocking on the driver's door forced them to remain where they were. The two men could see the lower torso of a uniformed officer and exchanged glances.

"Oh no…" The pudgy one sighed as he rolled down the window. "…There a problem, officer?"

"License and registration, please." He said.

"Might I ask what we've done wrong, officer?"

"You parked in a fire zone. I don't know how they do things in Yorkshire but around here, that's a big no-no."

"Sorry, officer. Won't happen again. Honest."

"That's good to know but you still haven't given me your license and registration."

"Well 'ere's the thing. We're new 'ere, you see? And we've just come back from doing a job for someone and we's was just on our way to get all the necessary files ready to get us registered for a license."

"We was?" The thin one asked.

"Can it, ya horse's arse!"

"Who are you people?" The officer lowered himself to the window and immediately gasped. "It's you!"

"Oh no!" The thin one panicked. "Doug, look!"

"Oh bugger." The pudgy one's jaw dropped. "It's Cosgrove!"

"How did you two escape!?" Cosgrove yelled as he reached into the car and grappled the chubby one's neck. "Come with me!"

"Never! Drive, Dinsy! Drive!"

"I can't reach the wheel, Doug!"

"Oh, sod it!"

The pudgy one stepped on the wheel and broke free from Cosgrove's grasp. The police chief hurried over to his vehicle to radio for backup until he noticed the old truck heading back his way.

"Oh no." He shook his head. "No! No! No!"

* * *

"Clyde?" Stephanie opened the door and stepped outside on the lawn. "What's wrong? What happened? Did you find out anything?"

"I'm sorry, Stephanie." He said. "But I didn't find anything. Catalina's clean."

"You're sure?"

"I'm positive."

"So what now? What do we do?"

"I don't know about you, Steph. But one thing I do know is that being with Catalina has opened up my eyes."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think maybe it's time we stop seeing each other."

"Clyde, don't even joke like that."

"I'm not joking, Stephanie. I finally realized that Catalina is the girl I've always wanted to be with. Not you."

Stephanie studied Clyde's expression and backed away. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

Determined to keep him, she put her hands on his and stared deep into his emerald green eyes. "Clyde, look straight in the eye and tell me you don't love me."

"I…" He paused as more red static flared in his eyes. "…I d-don't…"

"You can't say it, can you?" Stephanie said as she realized something was wrong. "Clyde, whatever she's done to you, you have to fight it! Fight it, Clyde! You're stronger than that! I know you are! Please!"

Clyde remained still until the weight of Catalina's spell finally sunk in. "…I don't love you, Stephanie."

Clyde broke away from Stephanie's grasp and walked away as the pink-haired girl remained standing there with a lump in her throat. She was heartbroken, upset, worried but mostly she was just confused. She fought back the tears and hurried over to Trixie's house to see if anything could be done to help.

For hours, Pixel, Trixie, Stingy and Ziggy tried to comfort the girl as she finally broke down in tears. There was no way Pixel's theory could add up without any solid evidence and from Clyde's ruling on Catalina, Stephanie finally realized she lost the only boy she ever loved.

"I can't believe I lost him." She sniffled as Trixie held her head on her lap.

"You haven't lost him, Pinky." Trixie said. "Not yet. You can still get him back. You just have to fight for him. Fight for your love and help him remember what it was that made you two fall for each other in the first place."

"…I just…" She breathed heavily as she wiped her tears away. "…I just don't like the idea of him being with this other girl. I mean, who is she? What's so special about her that would make Clyde forget about us and throw away everything we built together?"

"You can't just linger on and ask all these questions, Steph." Pixel said gently. "If you want answers, you need to take them."

"They've already started talking, you know." Stingy butt in. "I mean, way before this happened."

"What?" Stephanie got up.

"Well ever since the incident at the café, people at school started to spread rumors around. That you two were finished. That this new girl was going to take him away from you."

"So I guess this new kid in town decided to act on it." Trixie concluded. "You can't let her win, Pinky."

_There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar. _

_Great expectations, everybody's watching you._

_People you meet, they all seem to know you._

_Even your old friends treat you like you're something new._

Stephanie nodded along to Trixie's words and expressed her own painful thoughts on what Clyde was doing:

_Catalina come lately. The new kid in town. _

_Everybody loves you. So don't let them down._

_You look in her eyes, the music begins to play._

_Hopeless romantics, here we go again. _

_But after awhile, you're looking the other way._

_It's those restless hearts that never mend. _

_Oh, Catalina come lately. The new kid in town. _

_Will she still love you when you're not around?_

_There's so many things you should have told her. _

_But night after night, you're willing to hold her. _

_Just hold her, tears on your shoulder. _

_There's talk on the street, it's there to remind you._

_That it doesn't really matter which side you're on._

_You're walking away and they're talking behind you._

_They will never forget you till somebody new comes along._

Ziggy, Pixel, Trixie and Stingy stood behind their friend:

_Where you been lately? There's a new kid in town._

_Everybody loves you, don't they?_

_Now he's holding her and you're still around. _

_Oh my, my_

_There's a new kid in town._

_Just another new kid in town. _

_Ooh-hoo_

Stephanie looked out the window as her friends' voices sang into her ear, reminding her what must be done. But for some reason, she didn't want to put up with it at the moment.

_Everybody's talking about the new kid in town._

_(Ooh-hoo.)_

_Everybody's walking like the new kid in town._

_(There's a new kid in town.)_

_I don't wanna hear it._

_(There's a new kid in town.)_

_I don't wanna hear it._

_(There's a new kid in town.)_

_Everybody's talking about the new kid in town._

* * *

Inside the emergency room, Chief Cosgrove threw a fit as the doctors and nurses tried to restrain him in his bed. He screamed and kicked all over the place as the bandage placed on his head began to blotch with blood. Sportacus and Milford hurried inside the room and witnessed all the madness in utter horror.

"Oh dear." Milford put a hand to his mouth. "What happened?"

"Someone tried to kill the chief by running him down with a vehicle!" The doctor said as he struggled to calm the man down. "Eugene, please! Settle down!"

"THEY'RE BACK!" He screamed. "HOW DID THEY ESCPAE!?"

"What's that on his head?" Sportacus asked, referring to the bandage.

"Someone tried to finish the job by nailing his head to the floor!" Another doctor said as he strapped the man's feet to the bed. "There! I got his feet!"

_**WHAM! **_

"…Never mind…" 

"Chief, who did this to you?" Sportacus pleaded with him. "Please tell me!"

"THEY DID!"

"Who's they?"

"What on earth is he rambling on about?" Milford looked even more confused.

"I don't know. Who, Eugene? Who are 'they'?"

"DOUG! DINSDALE!"

"Who?"

"THE PIRANHA BROTHERS!!!"


	16. Hotel California

**_A/N: Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and ASSUME almost everyone here knows this next song. Or at least maybe you've heard of it or stumbled upon it at one point in your life. I mean, COME ON! It's a staple of Rock'n'Roll history, man! It's... all right, I'll stop whining now._**

**Chapter 16**

Stephanie walked through the halls of her high school with a tremendous weight on her chest slowing her down. All her classmates took quick glances at her, speaking amongst themselves, whispering and digging into her personal life. She didn't care though. For Stephanie, losing the only person she ever loved to a complete stranger was the only thing that concerned her for the moment.

To hell with whatever everyone else had to say, she knew she had to fight if she wanted him back. There was no way Clyde could have thrown away what they had for someone as mysterious as this Catalina girl. She had never even met her, let alone see her. Something wasn't right and she knew it. It was digging around in her very soul and she needed answers. Above all, she needed hope.

"Meanswell!" McGillicuddy's voice shrieked.

"Huh? What?" Stephanie looked around, startled by her teacher's scratchy voice.

In the time it took for her to walk the hallways and into class, she got lost somewhere in the middle and sort of blacked out deep in her thoughts.

"Does this look like nap time to you?" The old bat scolded the pink-haired girl. "Huh!? Does it!? Now why don't you go over to that board and solve the equation before I _really _lose my temper?"

"Sorry." Stephanie said as she complied with the order.

"Wake up. The real heroes are back in town so there's no excuse to hide behind that silly pink uniform of yours."

"Yes, Mrs. McGillicuddy."

"And for God's sake, stop moping around! I've seen holocaust films with more cheer in them!"

"…Yes, Mrs. McGillicuddy."

"Yes, Mrs. McGillicuddy!" She mocked. "Oh, you're a real yes-man aren't ya? I bet you'd love to pick up that ruler and smack me over the head with it, wouldn't ya?"

"No, ma'am."

"Do it! I dare you!"

"No."

"DO IT!"

"NO!"

"_**DO IT NOW**_!"

"_**NOOOO**_!"

"HAHA!"

McGillicuddy's face suddenly transformed into that of Remus' as Stephanie finally awoke from her nightmare.

"…It was a dream." She said out of breath. "…It was just a dream."

She looked at her clock and saw that it was only 3:00 in the morning. School wouldn't start for another few hours so she decided it best to fall back asleep. But her feelings remained the same. Something about Clyde's sudden change of heart puzzled her and she intended to find out what was behind it.

As she laid back down to sleep, a sudden breeze entered her room. Stephanie slowly lifted her head and noticed her window was closed.

"That's weird…" She whispered. "Must be the air conditioning."

"_Stephanie_…" A voice echoed through the air.

Alarmed, Stephanie got up from her bed and opened the window. She looked around and didn't see anything or anyone, just as she expected. But the voice called out to her again.

"_Stephanie_…"

"Remus?"

* * *

Stephanie wasn't the only one having nightmares that night as Robbie slumped his way off his chair and into the kitchen. He grabbed an early morning snack from the fridge to ease his mind and returned to his fuzzy orange haven when Rottenella caught him by surprise. 

"Are you okay, boss?"

"AAH!"

_**CRASH!  
**_

"Umm… sorry." She said as she helped him up.

"What are you doing up this early!?" Robbie snapped as he wiped the smeared periwinkle off his robe.

"I heard you talking in your sleep. You were tossing and turning and mumbling all this stuff I couldn't make out."

"And _that _woke you up?"

"It woke _you_ up, didn't it? And let's be honest, you're not really a sound sleeper to begin with."

"What are you talking about?"

"You snore."

"I do not!"

With a shrug, Rottenella looked away and noticed the journal tucked away under one of the couch's pillows.

"The journal." She said. "Are you going to--"

"NO!" He interrupted her. "I'm done with that thing!"

"It was the crash again, wasn't it?"

"What?"

"The one you documented about. You're inside a great big room and it's raining outside and all of a sudden there's this loud crash."

"The room…" Robbie hesitated for a moment before he finally shared his dream with his assistant. "…The room was shaking. As if the entire building was falling through the air. And the rain kept pounding on it and pounding on it until it crashed onto something. There was smoke, fire and a whole lot of… _water_."

"Then what happened?"

"I'm running in the rain again. I fall down, face first into the mud when all of a sudden I wake up and there I am."

"Safe and sound in the orphanage."

"…Yes." Robbie nodded. "But tonight was different. It had nothing to do with any of that stuff."

"It didn't."

"No, it was all so _random_."

"Will you tell me what it was?"

"You really want to know?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded in anticipation.

Robbie studied the expression on Rottenella's face then decided if he told tell her, she might fall back asleep. With a shrug, Robbie finally nodded and explained the scenario in the only way he knew how:

"_On a dark desert highway…"_

"Uh-huh."

_"Cool wind in my hair."  
_  
"Right."

"_Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air."_

"Oh, wow."

"_Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light."_

"Nice."

"_My head grew heavy and might sight grew dim. I had to stop for the night."_

"Okay."

"_There she stood in the doorway."_

"Who?"

"_I heard the mission bell. And I was thinking to myself, this could be Heaven or this could be Hell." _

"Uh-oh."

"_Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way."_

"Where?"

"_There were voices down the corridor. I thought I heard them say…"_

"Say what?"

_"Welcome to the Hotel California!" _

"Whoa!"

"_Such a lovely place!"_

"Such a lovely place?"

"_Such a lovely face!" _

"Aw, thanks boss!"

"_Plenty of room at the Hotel California! Any time of year…"  
_  
"Any time of year?"

"…_You can find it here!" _

"So then what happened?"

_"Her mind was Tiffany-twisted."_

"It was what?"

_"She got the Mercedes Benz."_

"Sweet."

"_She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that she calls friends."_

"Yeah, right."

"_How they dance in the courtyard. Sweet summer sweat."_

"Eww."

"_Some dance to remember. Some dance to forget."_

"Hey, wait a minute."

"_So I called up the Captain. Please bring me my wine."_

"Then?"

"_He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969!'"_

"That's rough."

"_And still those voices are calling from far away. Wake you up in the middle of the night just to hear them say…"_

"Um, 'Welcome to the Hotel California?'"

"_Such a lovely place!"  
_  
"Such a lovely place."

_"Such a lovely face!"  
_  
"Such a lovely face."

"_They're living it up at the Hotel California! What a nice surprise!"  
_  
"What surprise?"

_"Bring your alibis…"_

"Okay, now it's getting weird."

"_Mirrors on the ceiling. The pink champagne on ice."_

"Does _everything_ have to be pink?"

"_And she said, 'We're all just prisoners here of our own device.'"_

"Huh?"

_"And in the master's chambers, they gathered for the feast."  
_  
"Ooh, yummy!"

"_They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast."_

"Creepy."

"_Last thing I remember, I was running for the door."_

"Why?"

_"I had to find the passage back to the place I was before."_

"Go on."

"_Relax, said the night man. We are programmed to receive. You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave!" _

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Rottenella finally freaked out. "Boss, that was one scary dream! Seriously, haven't you ever had a good dream where everything was right in that little world of yours!?"

The question totally stumped Robbie as he thought to himself for a moment. "…Y'know, I don't… I don't think I ever have."

"Boss…" Rottenella sighed. "I'm really worried about you."

Then Robbie was totally taken aback by what happened next. Rottenella gently placed her hands on his shoulders and stared deeply into his misty gray eyes. The look of concern on her face was proof enough for Robbie that she was indeed worried for him. With a sigh, Robbie reassured his assistant by patting her on the head and grinning ever so slightly.

"I'll be fine, Rottenella." He said softly. "You better go back to bed."

"Okay." Was all she said.

As he watched her return to her room, Robbie couldn't help but smile. Then he suddenly felt something fluttering around inside him. Something he didn't quite expect. This new sensation totally caught him off guard but he knew exactly what it was. He didn't like it but he knew deep down it was inevitable.

"No!" He scolded himself. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Confused, Robbie shook his arms and legs around in a pitiful attempt to rid himself of these new emotions. Surprisingly, the plan worked as Robbie accidentally knocked into the shelf, where a stack of books immediately tumbled onto him. The good news was Robbie could now go back to sleep. The bad news was he'd be feeling pretty sore in the morning.


	17. Pretty Maids All In A Row

**Chapter 17**

There they stood before the Mutari council, who in turn sat in a line behind a wall of pure gold. The council elder, dressed in a thick red and yellow judge's robe and matching hat looked at the documents before him while his colleagues, dressed only in a simple red robe, waited patiently.

Bob looked around and gulped at the sight of the guard's golden-tipped spears. With a nervous chuckle, the pudgy pink rabbit hopped on Astral's shoulder and tucked himself away in his hood.

"Athtral…" The Professor lisped in a whisper. "…What are they doing?"

"They are preparing to hear our case." The old man replied. "We only have one shot at convincing them to help us so we can't blow it."

"Tho what do we do?"

"Astral Fulgore." The council elder said. "You and your companions may step forward and plead your case."

"With pleasure." Astral nodded before turning to his friends. "…Now follow my lead."

As Astral, the Professor and Dramatik stepped forward, they looked up to the councilmen with pure determination and confidence. Immediately, Astral dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together and soon Dramatik and the Professor followed.

"OH PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T KILL US!" Astral shouted.

"PLEASE, SIRS! PLEASE!" Pleaded the other two.

That's when Bob hopped out of Astral's hood and onto the council elder's desk. "Hey, how ya doin'? Listen, Mr… uhh…"

"Tarkin." The elder said.

"Tarkin, yeah. You from Jersey? Nah, didn't think so. Anyways… me and my friends here. We got ourselves a little problem back home. I mean _way_ back home, ya hear?

"What sort of problem?"

"Y'see, there's this guy called Remus. And apparently he's gotten a hold of one of these magic amulets or sumthin' that youse guys made a while back."

The councilmen turned to each other and muttered amongst themselves as Tarkin sighed and clenched his fists. "The… _elemental _amulets?"

"Yeah, them's the one!"

"That is impossible. The amulets were scattered long ago. There is no way that--"

"He speaks the truth, Tarkin." Astral interrupted. "An outsider from the land of Aðalsteinn took the amulet away from me and used it for evil."

"Just like you?" Tarkin snapped. "And that fool Reiko Jynn-Khan before you?"

"Yes." Astral sighed. "But things have changed. I have reformed my ways. I now dedicated my life to prevent the magic from falling into the wrong hands."

"If you ask me, you failed all those years ago."

"Tarkin, I _beg_ you to help us."

"Yeah, he's beggin'!" Bob pointed at his friend. "Can't ya see we're really desperate here!? Now c'mon! Be a nice guy and tell us where to find those other amulets!"

"What are you?" The elder asked, scratching his thin black hair.

"What, are ya blind or sumthin'?" The rabbit scoffed. "Can't ya tell a rabbit when ya see one?"

"You are no mere rabbit."

"Of course I am!"

"You are a creature born from pure imagination."

"Uhh…" Bob gulped again. "Well, ya see…"

"And this guise you have on is also a product of one's own will."

"Okay, how did ya know that!?"

"Bob, what the Tham Hill ith going on!?" Astral blurted out.

"I don't know, it's like he's some kind of wise guy or sumthin'!"

"Tell me, Bob." Tarkin continued. "Who was it that gave you this body? Who imagined you into something so small, innocent-looking and all-around, just plain _cute_?"

"Um…" Bob began to jitter and blink rapidly. "…Sh-she was s-scared, see? And I guess she--"

"It wath Thtephanie!?" The Professor finally figured it out. "Oh, I get it!"

"All right, calm down!" Bob shushed the man. "Yeah, so Stephanie made me this way! Big whoop! The girl was wandering a cave all alone and when she heard my voice, she assumed I was there to hurt her!"

"So in an act of fear, she imagined you were something that couldn't possibly hurt her." Astral nodded. "In this case, a pudgy pink Rabbit with Burt Young syndrome."

"Hey!" Bob stuck his tongue out. "Leave him outta this!"

"What does this have to do with anything, Tarkin?"

"Believe it or not, Astral…" The man stood up. "It has _everything_ to do with it. What kind of man could be evil enough to emit so much fear that the people he preys on would resort to such drastic measures as wandering the Cave of Despair and overpowering its sole guardian?"

"So you'll help us?"

"I will do what I can."

"Ye Gods! The heavens smile down on us once again!" Dramatik went into another funk. "Huzzah to you all! You have made the right choice! Onward we will march into victory and--"

_**POW!  
**_

_**THWACK!**_

_**CRASH!**_

* * *

Back in LazyTown, Sportacus' parents sat down in their airship as it hovered next to their son's. Jezelle sat in front of a computer monitor with her head in her hands, and golden mane draped over. Hallbjörn stood over his wife, a hand on her shoulder and looked at all the information displayed on the screen.

"Then it's true." He said. "It seems you found what you were looking for after all."

"Yes." The woman said as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"So what now? Where do we go from here?"

"I don't want to rush into this, Hal. We have to take our time."

"I think we've waited long enough."

"But what about our son? Magnus might not understand."

"Magnus is a grown man, Jezelle. He will be fine."

"I hope you're right. The last thing I want is for Magnus to turn against us for keeping this information from him."

Just then, the entrance hatch to the airship opened as Sportacus leapt in. Jezelle quickly turned the monitor off and stood up to greet her son.

"Magnus." She said. "What's going on?"

"Clyde is missing." The hero in blue said right away. "We can't seem to find him anywhere."

"Missing? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

* * *

As everyone searched the town for Clyde, the Trinity Watch reviewed the security tapes from their watchtowers to see where he could have gone. While all this went on, Stephanie walked around town alone with her thoughts. She had tried to talk to him earlier that morning but he wasn't inside the Track One or at the park, or anywhere else he usually hung around. Eventually, the pink-haired girl found herself standing around the all-too familiar billboard and decided to turn back when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Stephanie?"

Stephanie turned her head and couldn't help but smile. "Rottenella. Hi."

"Hi." The young woman waved. "Are you okay?"

"…Not really. Clyde's missing."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Has he stopped by?"

"No. I haven't seen him. Last I heard, you two were…" Rottenella could see the look on Stephanie's face and immediately stopped in her tracks. "…Oh. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to talk to him and… see if we could… you know."

"Yeah, I know. I'm trying to get Robbie to open up to me but his mouth is closed tighter than the lid on a pickle jar."

Stephanie chuckled. "Yeah. Listen, why don't we just forget about the guys for while and just hang out?"

"But aren't you worried about Clyde?"

"I'm sure he'll show up. He's probably out with his new…" Stephanie paused for a moment and couldn't bring herself down to finish her sentence.

"It's okay, Steph."

"Look, why don't we start over?"

The two girls couldn't help but laugh out loud and decided to exchange some friendly words in the best way they could:

"_Hi there." _Stephanie waved.

"_How are you?" _Rottenella waved back.

"_It's been a long time. Seems like we've come a long way."_

"_My, but we learn so slow."_

"_And heroes, they come and they go. And leave us behind as if we're supposed to know why. Why do we give up our hearts to the past? And why must we grow up so fast?"_

"_And all you wishing well fools with your fortunes. Someone should send you a rose with love from a friend."_

The two girls did a small ballet routine, twirling around and meeting each other again in the middle. Then, with another friendly wave to each other, they began to vocalize in harmony:

_It's nice to hear from you again._

_And the storybook comes to a close. _

_Gone are the ribbons and bows. _

_Things to remember. Places to go._

_Pretty maids all in a row._

_All in a row. Ooh, ooh, ooh…_

_All in a row. Ooh, ooh ooh…_

Just then, Stephanie felt a jolt run through her body as Remus' voice softly rang into her ear again. She closed her eyes and tried to drown out the noise as Rottenella stood watching in confusion.

"Steph? Are you okay?"

"It's Remus…"

"_Stephanie…"_

"No! Go away!" The pink-haired girl shouted.

After a sharp hissing noise, the voice finally died out and left Stephanie disoriented as she leaned against the billboard for support. Rottenella helped Stephanie over to the hatch entrance and led her inside the lair to rest.

"Come on." She said. "Let's get you inside and we'll find out what's going on."

* * *

As the town continued to search for Clyde, Pixel ran several searches on his computer and managed to find something he hadn't noticed before. He clicked on the window and examined the strange pattern emitting on his sensors.

"Hey, you guys!" He called to his friends. "Check this out! I think I'm onto something here!"

"What is it?" Trixie asked as she rushed over to the computer. "Did you find Clyde?"

"No but I think I know where he went."

"What are we looking at?" Stingy tilted his head. "If it's another fad from Japan, I'll be very disappointed."

"No!" Pixel rolled his eyes. "Look at this weird vapor trail!"

"Oh, _another_ trail?" Trixie sighed. "Pixel, your last theory didn't check out! What makes you think this one will?"

"Because look where it's headed!" Pixel pointed at the screen, which displayed a digitized map of LazyTown.

"Uhh…" Ziggy was confused. "Where?"

"The outskirts of LazyTown! Where we sent Stephanie last time!"

"And this is important because…" Trixie waited for an answer.

"Because the vapor trail starts and ends there! As if some kind of doorway opened in midair and led whoever it was over here to us!"

"What, you mean like a portal?"

"Yes!"

"Pixel, I've got to ask you something."

"What?"

"Are you on drugs?"

"What!? No!"

"You sure?"

"Look, we've seen a guy move mountains and raise armies of rock with a magic amulet, we've seen Stephanie shoot fire from her bare hands and witnessed one of the weirdest cases of MPD I've seen in a while all in the past few years! I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt here!"

"Okay, okay! You big baby!" Trixie sighed. "So what do you think we should do?"

"I say we follow the trail and reopen the portal. See where it takes us."

"You can do that?"

"Hey." Pixel slyly leaned back in his chair, his fingers pointed to himself. "I'm the gizmo guy, remember? I can do _anything_."

Trixie and Stingy exchanged glances and grinned, nodding along to Pixel's plan. Perhaps there was something to his theory after all and they were determined to get to the bottom of things. At long last, it was their turn to play hero and save Stephanie and Clyde's relationship before the powers that be destroyed it for good.


	18. I Can't Tell You Why

**Chapter 18**

Rottenella helped Stephanie down the steps of the lair and gently placed her on Robbie's chair when suddenly a vicious bark caught her off guard. 

"_**ARF! ARF!**_"

"Aah!" Rottenella stepped back and shielded Stephanie. "What the…"

The little mechanical dog with razor sharp teeth glared his devilish red eyes at the young woman and started snapping at her. Just when he was about to pounce, Robbie came to her rescue and clapped his hands. The dog's eyes dimmed as it backed away with its head down. 

"Good boy!" Robbie pet his old creation. 

"What is that thing!?" Rottenella clutched her heart as she gasped for air. 

"It's a security system!" He grinned. "I figure if whoever it was that beat me up and stole my hair ever come back, they'll have to deal with _that_ little guy!" 

"Nice plan, I guess…" 

Robbie nodded, pleased with himself but immediately changed attitudes when he noticed Stephanie passed out on his beloved orange chair. His left eye started to twitch as Rottenella began to chuckle nervously. 

"Oh yeah… right…" She said. "Listen, Boss…" 

"What is _she _doing here!?" He finally snapped. "And on _my_ chair!?" 

"I had to bring her here! She just sort of passed out!"

"Passed out?" 

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing! One minute we were just playing, dancing and singing a song when suddenly she gets this weird headache or something. I mean, she started talking to herself, I think. Like if there was a voice ringing inside her head!" 

"A voice… inside her head?" 

"Well, you know… I was just… I was just _guessing_…" 

The little Robo-Hound recognized Stephanie from their previous encounter and hopped on the seat, nudging her awake with the top of his fuzzy, purple head. When Stephanie awoke she came under attack by the dog's surprisingly wet kisses of joy. 

"Oh no!" She panicked. "Not _you_ again!" 

The mechanical dog whined and rubbed itself against the young girl in a loving manner much to Robbie's disgust. "What!? I don't remember programming him to do anything like that!" 

"Robbie?" Stephanie got up from the chair. "Why am I in your lair?" 

"You passed out, Steph." Rottenella answered. "Are you okay?" 

"I… I don't know… I heard a voice…"

"Ha! Told you!" 

Robbie just rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever…"

"It was Remus." Stephanie finally remembered. "He's trying to invade my mind."

"Remus?" Robbie shifted his eyes nervously. 

"Yeah… has anything weird happened in the last few days?" 

"Nothing weirder than usual." Rottenella chuckled to herself. 

"Yes!" Robbie shrieked. "As a matter of fact, something _did_ happen! Somebody broke into my lair and they--"

"Hey, did you get a haircut?" Stephanie interrupted. 

"Yes! No! Sort of! That's what I'm talking about! They came in while I was sleeping, held me back, cut my spit-curl and ran off with it! I thought it was a dream at first but the evidence is right here on my friggin' forehead!" 

"Who would want to steal your hair?" 

"Somebody who's obviously jealous of my rugged good looks!" 

Stephanie took a moment to turn her head and snicker. "Okay, Robbie…" 

"Where are you going?" Rottenella asked as she saw Stephanie heading for the surface. 

"To get answers." 

* * *

Cosgrove stormed inside the police station, his arm in a cast and his forehead still bandaged from the nail in the head. The officers cleared the way as it was obvious he wasn't in a good mood. Once he reached the Trinity Watch debriefing room, he was shocked to find a meeting already in progress. The uniformed men and women turned their heads to the police chief and tried to contain their fits of laughter. 

"What's going on here!? Who called this meeting!?" Cosgrove demanded an answer. 

"I did." Mayor Meanswell stepped forward. "We were just welcoming our police chief."

"Oh." Cosgrove chuckled coyly. "Why, thank you. It's nice to be back and--"

"Thank you, Mayor!" Sportacus said as he revealed himself, wearing a police badge over to the side of his costume. 

"What?" Cosgrove was now in shock. "You can't be serious. _Him_? But what about _me_!?" 

"Sorry, Eugene." Milford shook his head. "But you've gone too far."

"Maybe I haven't gone far enough!"

"Sportacus is more than able to protect us from any dangers that may be lurking around." 

"Like the Piranha brothers!? Huh!?" 

"I give you my word we'll find them." Sportacus assured the man. "As soon as we find my nephew."

"No dice! You don't know them like I do!"

Sportacus noticed Cosgrove starting to shake. "Maybe you should go back home and get some rest." 

"NEVER!" The man now started to turn red in the face. "The Piranha brothers will be brought to justice by _me_! And me alone! _**I'm**_ the chief of police! _**I'm**_ the one in charge! _**I'm**_ the boss! _**I'm**_… having a heart attack!" 

And just like that, the former chief of police keeled over and fell face down on the floor as everyone just stood there appalled. 

Moments later, after Sportacus had rushed the man to the hospital, doctors were able to stabilize Cosgrove's condition and bring him back from the dead. When the war veteran came around, he saw Sportacus, Milford and Bessie standing by his side. 

"How are you feeling, Eugene?" Ms. Busybody asked. 

"I'm… okay, I guess…" He said in a raspy voice. "What happened?"

"You had a heart attack." Sportacus said. "But you're fine now."

"Heart attack?… But why?" 

"Oh, that's easy." Milford said. "I fired you and gave your job to Sportacus!" 

"WHAT!? 

Thus another flatline occurred, leaving Bessie shaking her head in frustration. "Milford, there's something called _subtlety_…" 

* * *

Later that night, Trixie, Stingy and Ziggy snuck out of their homes and into Pixel's. There they went down into the basement and removed a sheet from Pixel's old matter transporter. After switching it on, Pixel hopped on a chair and rolled himself over to the machine's computer screen. He typed in the coordinates and scanned the layout of the town. 

"That's where we're going." He said. "The outskirts of LazyTown."

"And you said that's as far as this baby will take us?" Trixie asked. 

"Yup." 

"So what about this vapor trail?" Stingy stuck his nose in. "How are we gonna track it down?"

"It's _already_ tracked down, Stingy. Otherwise it wouldn't be a _trail_. All we have to do is reopen the portal."

"And how are we gonna do that?" 

"With this." Pixel held out a strange device, which for some reason Stingy found familiar to him. 

It's long and slender design rung bells in Stingy's memory as did the odd little cubic device attached at the bottom. The sleepy-eyed brat's mouth opened wide as he stepped back in horror. 

"W-where did you get that?" He asked. 

"I found it laying on the ground a while back." Pixel said. "It was sometime after Sportacus and Clyde left. It took me a while to figure out the machinery and what its purpose was."

"So what does it do?" Ziggy eyeballed the strange contraption. 

"Turns out, this thing absorbs energy particles that are in the air and collects them into this cube at the bottom." Pixel began to explain. "Then from there, by pulling this trigger, it will release the collected energy into a concentrated beam and summon the effects of whatever the energy particles were there for in the first place."

"Umm… I'm kind of lost." Ziggy took a lick from his lollipop. 

"I think I get it." Trixie nodded. "So if the particles came from the portal, we can collect them in the cube, recycle them, and reuse them to make another one. Right?" 

"Exactly!" Pixel exclaimed. "You guys up for this?" 

"Let's do it!"

"I'm in." Ziggy shrugged. 

"I don't know, guys." Stingy shook his head. "I've seen that thing before!" 

"You have?" Pixel was now confused. 

"I think Remus made it to collect the energy from the Earth amulet."

"Oh, so _that's_ how he got his powers back!" Trixie sighed. 

"It's not going to happen again, guys." Pixel said. "We're not letting this thing fall in the wrong hands. Now are you with us, Stingy?"

"Well, uhh…" Stingy stammered. "…I d-don't…"

One look from Trixie's worried face was all it took to convince him. With a nod, he agreed to tag along and followed his friends out of the house. 

* * *

That same night Stephanie was on her way home, depressed and confused. Demetrius' attempt to read her mind again failed to come up with any answers as to why Remus was haunting her. As she walked past the café, she noticed the moonlight shining down on the park where she first med Clyde. She crossed the empty street and wandered the field, looking up at the zip-line she helped raise and the tree house from her youth. Just then, she heard a voice that was all too welcoming to her. 

"Hi, Steph." Clyde said as he stood behind her. 

"Clyde…" She was at a loss for words. "…Where were you? Your uncle's been worried sick. He's taken over as police chief, he's sent the Trinity Watch to look for you and---"

"It's okay. They already know I'm back. Everything's fine."

Stephanie nodded and remained silent for a moment. The two awkwardly stared at each other in silence before the pink-haired girl decided to break the ice. 

"Clyde, I missed you." She said as she placed her hands over his. "Please come back to me. I think something might have--"

"No, Steph." He interrupted. "Nothing happened to me. I finally realized you're not the girl for me. Catalina is."

"But you don't even know her! Clyde, something is wrong! I can feel it! I know you can too!" 

"…No." 

"But it doesn't make any sense."

"People do crazy things when they're in love."

"Listen to me, Clyde. Remus has been invading my mind. I think he may have something to do with all this!" 

"You really think Remus Tard is interested in our relationship? Well _that's_ a new low." 

"You're not acting like yourself, Clyde. Please come back with me and maybe Demetrius can help you." 

"I don't need any help. What I need is to stay away from you. You're starting to piss me off!" 

Stephanie didn't know what to say. Neither did Clyde. His sudden outburst shocked them both and in another moment of silence, the air suddenly grew cold. Clyde's gaze remained on the grass as Stephanie shook her head from disbelief. She was more convinced than ever that this wasn't the Clyde she knew and loved. She had to do something. She took a deep breath and stood behind the boy, trying to convince him something was wrong:

_Look at us baby, up all night._

_Tearing our love apart._

_Aren't we the same two people who lived_

_through years in the dark?_

Clyde slowly looked up at Stephanie and nodded along, trying to fight the spell that was placed over him. But the magic proved too strong and he stepped back a bit, trying to explain his point of view:

_Every time I try to walk away, _

_Something makes me turn around and stay. _

_And I can't tell you why._

Instead, Stephanie moved forward and tried yet again to convince him to stay while he refused her every word:

_When we get crazy, _

_It's just not right._

_(Try to keep your head, little girl.)_

_You know I get lonely, too._

_You don't have to worry, _

_just hold on tight. _

_(Don't get caught in your little world.)_

'_Cause I love you._

Clyde gently turned away from Stephanie and started to walk away as he called out to her: 

_Nothing's wrong as far as I can see._

_You make it harder than it has to be._

_And I can't tell you why. _

_No, baby, I can't tell you why. _

_I can't tell you why. _

And with that, Clyde headed back into the Track One and turned out the lights. Stephanie, defeated yet more determined than ever, left the park and went straight home. She thought to herself that maybe, just maybe, she made a dent in whatever it was that was manipulating Clyde's emotions.

"I'm not giving up, Clyde." She said to herself. "I _will_ save you."


	19. Witchy Woman

**Chapter 19**

Pixel, Ziggy, Trixie and Stingy materialized outside of LazyTown via the matter transporter and stood on the dark, empty dirt road. Once the dust settled, they took a moment to familiarize themselves with their surroundings.

"Never been _here_ before…" Trixie commented.

Pixel grinned as he flipped open his wristband and scanned the area for the vapor trail. Once the machine started beeping, he held out Remus' old device and switched it on.

"Okay, you guys." He said. "Stand back."

Ziggy clutched his lollipop tightly as Trixie grabbed Stingy by the arm much to his surprise. Once Pixel pulled the trigger on the handle, a low humming could be heard emanating from the device. The lights on the cube began to flash, which caught Pixel off guard as he winced at the intensity of the light.

"Is this supposed to happen!?" Ziggy asked, almost scared to death.

"I don't know." Pixel shrugged. "I never made it this far!"

Just then, the monitor on Pixel's wristband began to show changes in the atmosphere. The dots indicating the energy particles within the vapor trail began to disappear as the storage compartment slowly weighed down on the gizmo guy.

"I think it's done, guys!" Pixel shouted as he released the energy flow.

Soon a powerful funnel of pure energy projected itself from the contraption and formed swirling vortex in midair. The wind picked up speed as the portal pulsated and flashed several sparks of electricity, partially blinding the gang.

"This is it, guys. There's no backing out now." Pixel said. "Let's go."

One by one, the friends stepped into the vortex and vanished from LazyTown in the blink of an eye. Once they were all gone, the portal remained swirling in midair, waiting for their return.

* * *

Stephanie paced back and forth in her room, waiting for someone to pick up the phone. She gripped her cell phone tightly, hoping for Pixel to answer but there was no response. She had just missed them and was totally unaware of what they were up to. With a heavy sigh, she put her phone away and prepared to head back outside in an attempt to find her friends. That's when her uncle stopped her in her tracks.

"Where are you going, Stephanie?" He asked.

"I have to find my friends." She told him. "Something's wrong with Clyde and I'm going to need their help."

"For what?"

"He's been acting strange, Uncle. He's not himself. I just know it."

"How do you mean?"

"He's… cold and… _distant_. Like he's making someone else's decisions and not his own. It's almost like someone's controlling him or something."

"Who would want to control Clyde? And for what purpose?"

"I think it may be Remus."

"Remus? That doesn't make any sense, Stephanie. Why would he meddle in your personal affairs?"

"I don't know. But lately he's been entering my mind. My dreams aren't safe and whenever he catches me off guard, he pries deeper in my head for information I'm not sure I have."

"How do you intend Pixel and the others to help?"

"We need to reset his mind."

"Reset his mind?"

"Trust me, Uncle." She said as she headed out the door. "I think I know how to beat this."

* * *

Inside the black tower, Pixel and the others fell through the swirling vortex that had suddenly opened in midair. They fell in a pile and griped and groaned before Pixel forced them all to shush up. With a quick run-through with his scanners, the gizmo guy concluded that they were far beyond the reaches of LazyTown and into the area known as the Forbidden Zone.

"The what zone?" Trixie scratched her head.

"It's a huge vacant area beyond and between the outskirts of LazyTown and CrazyTown." Pixel answered. "And if my guess is correct, we're inside Remus' hideout."

A distant rattle alarmed the four friends as they quickly took cover behind a mounted pillar of black rock. There they saw a group of unfamiliar faces speaking with their greatest enemy.

"Is the setup ready to go, Goggi?" Remus asked as he wandered around the lair.

"Yes, sir." The green-haired boy nodded. "Everything's been planted to incriminate our stoolie."

"Good. Remember, you are not to follow through with this plan until I take the amulet from Stephanie."

"Yes, my lord."

"I knew it!" Pixel muttered under his breath.

"Catalina!" Remus called for his creation.

The raven-haired femme fatale walked down the short flight of steps and met with Remus and his crew. The former superhero placed his arms around her shoulders and spoke directly to her ear.

"You've done an exemplary job, Catalina." He said softly. "I knew you would make him see the light."

"Sometimes love is blind." She said with a grin. "And you're sure that Stephanie girl is out of the equation?"

"Not yet, my dear. But I'm working on it."

Remus snapped his fingers and soon he and his cohorts were standing in the middle of the room. Goggi pressed a few keys in his wristband and noticed a strange reading on the small monitor.

"Huh." He grunted.

"What is it?" Halla asked.

"Ah, nothing." He shrugged. "It must be redundant output."

With a heavy yet quiet sigh, Pixel and the others could now breathe easy as the light from Goggi's portal sent them on their way. Once Catalina was all alone in the tower, Trixie urged the others to act now and get to the bottom of things.

"Hi there!" Pixel said as he stepped out from behind the rock. "Remember me? No, I'm sure you don't. You were probably too busy smooching on my friend. Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. The one who _already_ has a girlfriend!"

"Who are you?" She asked him, slowly backing away. "How did you get here?"

"We'll ask the questions around here, missy!" Stingy was next to reveal himself.

"Uhh, yeah!" Ziggy said as he tucked himself behind Stingy.

"You're hanging with the wrong crowd." Trixie threatened the girl, hitting a fist against her other hand.

"What do you people want?" Catalina now realized she was in trouble.

"Answers!"

"To what!?"

"Who are you and where did you come from?"

"Why are you working with Remus?" Pixel added.

"How are you manipulating Clyde?" Stingy asked as well.

"Manipulating?" The girl shook her head, trying to understand. "No, no! You don't understand! He loves me! He just needed his memory refreshed!"

"Ha!" Trixie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm serious! Remus offered to help me get back together with him! We're in love!"

"Then why are you helping him take the amulet away from Stephanie?" Stingy asked.

"He said she stole them from him and that she would abuse their power! I'm only trying do what's right!"

"By helping a madman like Remus?" Trixie shook her head and grinned. "Yeah, nice try."

"I'm being honest!" Catalina pleaded.

"Not buying it!" Pixel said as he waved his wrist up and down the girl's body. "My scanners are picking up on that special perfume of yours!"

"No, wait! Please! Let me explain!"

"No need." Trixie interrupted the girl as she took it upon herself to explain for her:

_Raven hair and ruby lips._

_Sparks fly from her fingertips. _

_Echoed voices in the night. _

_She's a restless spirit on an endless flight. _

Catalina soon found herself circled by Trixie, Pixel, Stingy and Ziggy as they pointed at her, scolding and singing in unison:

_Whoo-hoo! Witchy woman! _

_See how high she flies!_

_Woo-hoo! Witchy woman!_

_She got the moon in her eyes!_

Trixie then grabbed Catalina by the arm and walked her around the lair, continuing her accusations with an almost unmerciful tone:

_She held him spellbound in the night._

_Dancing shadows and firelight._

_Crazy laughter in another room._

_And she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon._

Catalina was then shoved against the wall as the poor girl found herself cornered by the vengeful chanting quartet:

_Whoo-hoo! Witchy woman!_

_See how high she flies!_

_Whoo-hoo! Witchy woman!_

_She got the moon in her eyes!_

Trixie could see the fear in Catalina's eyes but that didn't sway her one bit. She put her arm around the girl and went on:

_Well I know you want a lover._

_Let me tell you, brother, _

_She's been hanging in the devil's den._

_And there's some rumors going 'round._

_Someone's underground._

_She can burn you in the nighttime_

_'til your skin turns red._

Catalina tried to run away from the group but it was no use. Their determination and will was stronger than anything she had ever seen and their words were starting to get to her:

_Whoo-hoo! Witchy woman! _

_See how high she flies!_

_Whoo-hoo! Witchy woman!_

_She got the moon in her eyes!  
_

"Please!" She pleaded. "Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you!"

"Think again." Trixie shook her head. "Helping Remus is probably one of the most dumbest things you could have ever done."

"Where are you from, anyway?" Ziggy was curious.

"Oh my God…" Pixel suddenly realized the truth as he did a double-take on his scanners.

"What is it, Pixel?" Stingy turned his attention to his friend.

Pixel squinted his eyes at Catalina and dropped his jaw even lower. "You guys aren't gonna believe this…"

* * *

The man now known as Tarkin led Astral and his companions along the city streets of Mutari. As they walked, Bob, Dramatik and the Professor looked around in awe at the towering buildings, structures and roadways made entirely out of gold. The people of Mutari went about their business, traveling back and forth from one place to another while giving these mysterious new strangers crooked looks.

"They're not used to outsiders." Tarkin explained. "You'll have to forgive their slack-jawing."

"So where you takin' us?" Bob asked as he rode on top of Astral's shoulder.

"The Hall of Records. There we will find the answers you seek."

"Tarkin," Astral began. "There is another matter of concern. Chameleon."

"Khan's personal assassin? Why is he of any concern? He is dead."

"I don't believe that's the case. I could feel his presence lurking about."

Tarkin stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face the old monk. "Are you sure of this?"

"Yes."

"I don't doubt your ability to sense the man. After all, you _were_ close to Reiko and his hordes once. But I seem to recall killing him when you fled."

"Well I believe he barely made it out with his life. Before your men seized us, we were attacked."

"Yeah! By thumone invithible!" The Professor butt in.

"Invisible to the naked eye, perhaps. Chameleon was camouflaged. He must have been waiting for us to arrive so when the gates opened, he could sneak in unnoticed."

"For what?"

"To reanimate my master, of course!" A voice suddenly called out as everyone soon found themselves being beaten to the floor.

Astral felt a swift kick run across his face, pushing him back while the Professor and Tarkin were both brought down by an unknown force.

"Hey, what's going on--" Bob said before being kicked across the street like a football.

"Oh cruel fate!" Dramatik ran around like a headless chicken in hopes to avoid being hit. "How you mock me! I pray you spare me this ghastly injustice so that I may live to tell the tale of when Astral the bold saved--"

_**WHACK!**_

"Bugger!"

_**THUD!**_

Chameleon then deactivated his camouflage and ran into the Hall of Records, where he stumbled upon a towering pillar of solid gold with many floating documents encircling it. The enchanted papers and files flew themselves across the golden room and into their proper storage cases much to Chameleon's bewilderment. One of the Mutari guards working the area spotted the man in black and pointed a sword at him.

"You there!" He cried. "Stay where you are!"

Shaking his head, Chameleon reached into his belt and flung a small metal dagger into the neck of the guard. The man fell to his knees, dropping his weapon, and in the blink of an eye he vanished in a white flash of light. Chameleon grinned over his minor triumph and leapt across the various pillars and grabbed a handful of files in midair. He went through them quickly and repeated the process until he noticed a glass case in the very back of the room. He released the papers already in his hands, which immediately took flight again, and slowly approached the case. But before he could act, an energy beam threw him to the floor.

"You're not getting the map, Chameleon." Tarkin warned, wielding an energy charged scepter. "The information isn't yours to keep."

"I say otherwise." The assassin quipped before leaping into the air again.

He landed a kick across Tarkin's face and jabbed him in the ribs before flipping him across the room. He then took out another one of his daggers and prepared to fling when Bob hopped on the assassin and blocked his view with his long, floppy pink ears.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The rabbit joked. "Am I in your way!? Please excuse me!"

"Filthy pink rabbit!" The man in black shrieked before the Professor and Dramatik grabbed him from behind.

"We got him, Athtral!" The Professor called.

The old monk hurried his way over and pointed a razor sharp metallic wand to the assassin's face. "You _will_ remain still if you know what's good for you."


	20. Guilty Of The Crime

**_A/N: Okay, fine! Fine! I give up!_**

**Chapter 20**

Stephanie checked her watch. It was only 9:30 but Pixel and the others were nowhere to be found. She went looking for them in places she hadn't thought of before but when she walked past the museum, she noticed the entrance was sealed off with yellow crime scene tape. There was one cop car parked nearby but she didn't take too much notice of it. With a shrug, she continued walking until the wind suddenly grew colder. It was a feeling she remembered all too well and soon, her mind was invaded yet again by Remus.

"_Stephanie…"_

"What do you want?" She asked under her breath as she walked over to the park away from prying eyes. "Get out of my head and face me yourself, Remus."

"_Very well…"_

Stephanie turned her head and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was startled to find the gray-haired Remus standing before her, tall and menacing.

"Hello, Stephanie." He grinned.

"What did you do to Clyde?"

"Clyde? Who's he?"

"Don't act dumb!"

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Tell me what you did to Clyde. Why is he suddenly acting all strange?"

"Strange in what way? As I recall, the boy suffers from a multiple personality disorder."

"Not anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You did something to him. I know it."

"My, my. You're quick to point fingers, aren't you?"

"You're fight is with me. Not him."

"Stephanie, I assure you I have little interest in your personal affairs." Remus lied through his teeth. "Have you considered the possibility that he may not love you anymore?"

"…No. But I don't want to believe that."

"No one ever does, Stephanie. Love is a very fickle thing. Tell me… has he been seeing someone else?"

"…There's…" Stephanie paused for a second, deciding if she should confide in Remus.

"Come now, Stephanie." He said. "If I wanted to crush you, I would have done it by now."

"…There's someone he left me for." She finally said. "Someone I've never even seen or met. But I can't help but feel that he's being manipulated by her."

"The human mind is easily corrupted. Perhaps I could be of some assistance."

"No."

"I only want to help."

"You? Help?" She stepped back. "What are you getting at, Remus?"

"I'm ready to move on, Stephanie." He sighed. "I've grown tired of LazyTown. I've grown tired of running away. Most of all, I've grown tired of _being_ tired. If you can help me find my way back home, I can help Clyde remember his love for you."

"…How?" Stephanie hesitated for a moment.

"The Fire amulet."

"Nice try, bonehead!" Stephanie backed away some more. "I'm not giving it to you!"

"Hear me out, Stephanie." He put his hands behind his back. "The Fire amulet combined with one of my inventions will help send a signal to my homeland. They'll pick up on it and realize where I am. When they come here, they'll take me in, arrest me and put me where I finally belong."

"You _want_ to go to jail?"

"I told you. I'm done running. I was a hero once, you know. My morals have finally caught up to me and now I find myself wanting to do what is right."

"But what about--"

"I will give you back the Earth amulet, if that is what you want." He said. "I'll do anything to face justice and prevent myself from harming anyone again."

"…I don't know." Stephanie shook her head.

"It's not a matter of trusting me, Stephanie. It's a matter of how much you love Clyde."

"I…" Stephanie thought for a second. "…Well what about Sportacus? Or his parents even? They're in town. Why don't you go back with them?"

"I _could_ do that, I suppose." Remus grunted under his breath, realizing he had forgotten about them. "…But I'm willing to help you out."

"Remus," Stephanie started again. "I _want _to believe you. I really do."

"I understand. I suppose all you can do now is just sleep on it. I'll await your answer when you're ready."

Stephanie closed her eyes again and massaged her forehead. When she opened them back up, Remus was suddenly gone.

* * *

"She's a what!?" Trixie's jaw dropped.

Pixel showed her the scanners and explained. "She's a clone! Catalina is a straight-up clone of our Stephanie! Look at her face! Look at the hair!"

"Oh my God…" Ziggy shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before!"

"Neither of us did."

"A clone?" Catalina looked confused. "I'm not a clone."

"Yeah you are."

"No, I'm… I'm…"

"See?" Stingy said. "You don't know where you came from or how you got here."

"I remember… my uncle?"

"Not _your_ uncle. _Stephanie's_ uncle!"

"No, it's not true!" Catalina stood her ground. "I don't believe any of you!"

"Well hello there!" An unfamiliar voice startled the group.

They all turned around to see Doug and Dinsdale Piranha wander inside the room with smug looks on their faces. Stingy noticed Dinsdale holding a rolled up piece of parchment but didn't think much of it.

"Who are you?" Pixel asked.

"Oh, forgive me!" Doug laughed, chewing on the gum in his mouth. "My name's Doug Piranha and this 'ere is me brother Dinsdale!"

"Yeah." Dinsdale nodded.

"And you must be Remus' cronies, eh?"

"Huh?" Pixel and the others exchanged glances.

"Yeah, sure!" Doug began pointing at them. "Let's see 'ere, you must be Goggi, that's Hodge, the crumpet with the pigtails is Halla and I'd say that charming bloke with the lollipop is Sweetchuck. Am I right or am I right?"

"No!" Catalina shouted. "They're not--"

"Silly girl! Hahah!" Trixie put her hand over the clone's mouth. "She's always playing jokes like that! Yup! That's me all right! I'm Halla!"

"Oi!" Dinsdale turned his sights to Catalina. "That must be Catalina then, right?"

"Yes it is!"

"Now where's yer boss?" Doug asked, sniffing around.

"You mean Remus?" Stingy thought aloud.

"Yeah, he hired us remember? We did that museum job for 'im but we got a little detained what with Cosgrove stickin' his nose around."

"We showed him though, didn't we!?" Dinsdale laughed.

"That we did, me old son! That we did!"

"Wait a minute!" Pixel suddenly realized something. "_You're_ the guys that nailed Cosgrove's head to the floor!?"

" 'Ere, how did you know about that?"

"Uhh… Internet!"

"Oh. Well look, we got this map thingy he wanted and we damn near got busted by the fuzz! Now when do we get paid?"

"Remus is out right now." Pixel said, posing as Goggi. "But if you give us this map, we'll tell him you stopped by and--"

"Not a chance, spike-head!" Doug said as he popped the gum in his mouth. "We'll just stick around and make ourselves comfortable till he arrives."

"Fine by me."

Pixel huddled together with his friends as Catalina tried to sneak off but Trixie caught her by the arm. "Ow!" She wailed. "Let me go!"

"No!" Trixie barked.

"Who are these guys?" Stingy asked. "I've never seen them before."

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going on right now."

"Look, they obviously think we're someone else." Pixel said. "They think we're working for Remus."

"I say we head back home and tell Stephanie." Ziggy suggested. "We'll get Clyde, snap him out of this trance and alert the Trinity Watch."

"Good idea, Ziggy." Trixie complimented her friend before turning on him. "But what about this poser Stephanie? She's bound to warn Remus when he gets back!"

"Where _is_ your boss, anyway?" Pixel asked the girl.

"He went into town." She said softly. "Please, let me go! I'm so confused right now!"

"He's probably going after Stephanie." Stingy gasped. "Guys, we have to go now!"

"You're right." Pixel nodded as he gave Trixie the OK to release Catalina.

"Excuse us, boys!" Trixie said to the Piranha brothers as they leaned against the rock wall. "We'll be back in a short bit! Catalina will keep you company! Oh and Catalina?"

"What?" She slowly looked up at her.

"If you tell a certain someone about a certain plan to save a certain friend's relationship with a certain boy, I'm gonna come back here and shave your head in your sleep!"

"Gah!"

"Bye-bye!" Trixie waved as she let off a menacing cackle.

"Oi." Doug grabbed Catalina's attention. "What was _that_ about, then?"

"I…" Catalina was too confused as to how to react and simply shrugged. "…It was nothing."

"So when's this Remus bloke coming? I haven't got all night, y'know."

"Yes we have, Doug." Dinsdale said. "This is the only job we've had since we broke out of prison."

_**SMACK!**_

"Ow!"

"Quiet, you twonk!"

* * *

That night, Robbie tossed and turned in his fuzzy orange chair as he fell into yet another nightmare. His low moaning of despair and agony woke up the dog, who tried to drown out the noise by slamming his metallic head against his dog house. No success. Finally, Rottenella woke up to the sound of Robbie's suffering and hurried over to his chair, where she shook him until he snapped out of it.

"Who!? What!?" Robbie jolted in his seat. "Rottenella!"

"It's okay, boss." She told him. "You were just having another nightmare."

"I was?"

"Yes."

"Oh." He sighed. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"It's okay. I'm just glad it wasn't another raid on your hair."

Robbie let off a small chuckle as he stood up to stretch. "No use in me going back to sleep. Why don't you--"

"I don't mind staying up with you." She interrupted him, causing that funny feeling to return. "I mean… if that's okay."

He stammered for a bit, unsure of what to say. Then he noticed the concerned look on her face, which brought even more butterflies in his stomach. With an exasperated growl, he ran his hands along his hair and slumped over in his chair. Rottenella couldn't help but think to herself that maybe she did something wrong.

"Boss?" She put a hand on his shoulder.

"…I," He started. "I thought about what you said."

"What?"

"The other day. When you asked me if I ever had a different dream. A _good _one."

"And?"

"And…" He took a deep breath. "… I _did_ have one. I've _always_ had one. The same one."

"Really?"

He slowly nodded, looking into her eyes. "You were in it."

"I was?" She started to blush.

"Yes. In fact," He continued as he got up from his seat and put his hands over hers. "It was _all_ about you."

"It…" She now had a lump in her throat. "…It was?"

He responded with another nod. "I know I've never been the town favorite, or gotten along with Sportakook and the brats or even the mayor. I'm notoriously rotten by nature and lazy by my upbringing under my foster parents' rule. But there's something about you, Rottenella, that I can't explain. Something that makes me realize what my life could have been like or how it could still be. That it's not too late. You have something that makes me… _want_ to change."

"Um… uhh…" Rottenella was now breathing heavily over all the exhilaration. "Boss, are you trying to say--"

Rottenella was interrupted as Robbie took her by the hand, spun her around and brought her closer to him. "Oh, come on! I think you know exactly what I'm trying to say:

_You're the only one who's ever heard my song._

_I might be lonely now but I won't be lonely long. _

_Take a look at me, baby. _

_Tell me what do you see?_

_Take a look at me, baby._

_You're looking at the brand new me! _

Robbie then spun around Rottenella and fell to his knees, gently placing his head against her stomach. Blushing, she grinned and put her hands on his shoulders as they interlocked eyes once more while Robbie continued wooing her:

_I'm like a total stranger knocking at your door. _

_No need to worry 'bout the way I was before. _

_It's a new love story. _

_So read every line. _

_You be the judge and the jury._

_I'm guilty of the crime._

Robbie sprung himself back on his feet and brought his assistant's hands close to his heart as he continued:

_I'm guilty of! _

_Guilty of the crime!_

_Of loving you, baby! _

_I'm guilty of!_

_Guilty of the crime!_

Then at that moment, Robbie led Rottenella across the room and danced with her as a smile spread across his face. This of course freaked the dog out as it slowly crept its way back into its little house, hoping for the song-and-dance routine to end quickly. Robbie let Rottenella go and did a quick tap routine, to which Rottenella countered with a ballet move of her own. Robbie grinned and slid his way back over to her on his knees, looking straight up to see her laughing with total glee as he went on:

_I'm saving all my loving just for you!_

'_Cause there's nothing more that I would rather do._

_It's a new love story. _

_Got to read every line._

_You be the judge and the jury._

_I'm guilty of the crime!_

_I'm guilty of! _

_Guilty of the crime!_

_Of loving you, baby!_

_Yes, I'm guilty of! _

_Guilty of the crime!_

_Of loving you, loving you! Yeah! _

When Robbie finished his song to Rottenella, he twirled her around one last time, dipped her and looked straight into her loving brown eyes.

"It's just you and me now, doll." He said.

And with that, Robbie leaned in and kissed her lips with a fierce passion she had never seen from him before. She closed her eyes and savored the moment she had been waiting for a long time while Robbie finally poured his heart and soul into her. Robo-Hound, meanwhile, rolled his eyes back in disgust and continued to bang his head against his cubbyhole. When the two finally parted for air, Rottenella tilted her head back with a huge grin on her face.

"WHOA, BABY!" She hollered before bringing Robbie in for another make-out session.


	21. Already Gone

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I thought had already FIXED the friggin' document mangaer. But I guess with all the upgrades and repairs, it STILL holds a grudge against me. Ah well. Anyhoo... FYI: This chapter's a long one. **_

_**Chapter 21**_

Nervous and uneasy, Catalina paced around the dark lair as Dinsdale and Doug laid back on the old furniture Remus had set up several days before. The whole room looked like some cold, medieval lounge where only the sickest individuals with the most perverse and evil minds gathered to conspire against those who would only seek out to do good. All of Goggi's machinery that had been installed emitted a low hum and a bit of much needed illumination inside the stony room, where the Piranha brothers looked around some more. They noticed the trail leading into another dark room, where the black pearl on the encircled platform was. As Doug got up to fulfill his curiosity, a sudden gust of wind took him by surprise as did the voice that immediately followed.

"Going somewhere, Doug?" Remus startled the man.

"Oh, hey!" The Brit almost had a heart attack. "Careful 'ow you do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack, you did!"

"I must say you're here a bit late."

"Well we had to keep low for awhile."

"Never mind. Did you get what I asked for?"

"Yeah."

Doug snapped his fingers and Dinsdale immediately came up to his brother's side with the scroll in hand. He handed it to Doug, who in turn began to give it to Remus but before doing so, he jolted it back a bit.

"Oi," He started. "What about our payment?"

"All in due time, Doug." Remus grinned. "I have someone bringing your reward along with something else I require. In the meantime, I suggest you stick around. I may need your services a little while longer."

"Well that's fine and dandy and all but if yer gonna make us swap something' else, then I suggest uppin' the ante on our pay."

"Yes, of course."

"Nice kids ya got doin' yer dirty work, by the way." Dinsdale innocently commented.

"Kids?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the hyper one, the girl, the computer whiz and that one bloke what looks like Joel Hodgson."

Remus then turned a suspicious eye to his creation. "Catalina?"

"Um, they stopped by real quick." She lied as best she could. "Goggi had forgotten something."

A brief pause and Remus simply shrugged it off. "Oh. Is that all?"

"Uhh… sir?"

"Yes, Catalina? What is it?"

"I was wondering if I could drop by LazyTown real quick. There's something I want to give to Clyde."

"Really?" He grinned at the idea. "Very well. Who am I to stand in between a blossoming romance? But be careful, dear. Don't let anyone see you."

"Yes, sir."

"Take one of Goggi's teleport bands and report back as soon as possible."

Catalina nodded as she slipped on one of Goggi's contraptions around her wrist and pressed a few of the buttons. After a few seconds, a faint beeping emitted from the band as a cyclone of energy formed in midair. Catalina gave her master one last look and stepped into the portal, which closed immediately once the girl had passed dimensions.

Remus was now alone with the Piranha brothers and he could feel his magic beginning to strengthen within him. He put a hand close to his face and moved his fingers about as a low green static hissed from his fingertips.

"As soon as I get that amulet, I will be unstoppable." He said to himself.

"If yer so powerful an' all, why don't you just take what's yours instead of all this sneakin' around business?" Doug asked the man.

"So long as that pink-haired demon has the Fire amulet in her possession, she will find a way to beat me."

"Oh, I get it. Not too confident in yerself, eh?"

"Do not test me, Piranha." He raised a sharp pillar from the ground with a wave of his hand. "I may be at a disadvantage against the girl but against you, I am nothing more but a god."

"Yeah, all right…" The Piranha brothers nodded in agreement as Remus swiped the scroll away from Dinsdale.

* * *

Back in LazyTown, Catalina hurried over to the town center where the 3 airships hovered above in the night sky. She looked around and noticed the mail box with the specially designed chute and rushed over to it. She pulled out a slip of paper and a pen from the chute's compartment and began scribbling her message. When she was done, she rolled up her letter and placed it into one of the canisters the box provided and dropped it into the chute. She then adjusted the settings on the tube and aimed directly at the Track One. Afterwards, she pulled the lever and sent the canister flying into Clyde's airship where he would receive the message the next day.

"I hope they don't get to him." Catalina whispered to herself.

And with that, the black-haired beauty reopened her portal and vanished into thin air. The next morning, Stephanie awoke to find her friends surrounding her bed and almost fell out of it from the shock of seeing them so unexpectedly. She sat up and looked around, making sure she wasn't dreaming but the pinch she was given by Trixie proved otherwise.

"Ow!" She shrieked.

"You're welcome." Trixie joked.

"What are you guys doing here? Where were you last night? I was looking all over for you."

"We did some snooping around." Pixel answered. "And we got to meet this Catalina girl up-close and personal."

"Really? Did she say anything about Clyde?"

"Yeah. She's been manipulating him all along with some kind of special pheromone."

"Pheromone?"

"There's more."

"What is it?"

"I don't know how to tell you this, Stephanie but… she's a clone. Of you."

"Pixel…" The girl sighed. "… I don't have time for your games."

"I'm serious. I've seen her."

"We've _all _seen her." Stingy corrected. "She's an exact copy."

"Only with a few modifications to throw us off." Trixie added.

"What modifications?" Stephanie asked.

"Black hair, black clothing, the power of manipulation and a serious case of misdirection."

"Wait a minute…" Stephanie was now confused. "I have a clone? And _she's_ the one who stole my boyfriend?"

"It would explain why Clyde was attracted to her in the first place. Y'know, _besides_ the fancy perfume."

"Turns out I was right all along." Pixel continued. "She _is_ working for Remus."

Stephanie looked down and groaned, regretting she had almost turned to Remus for his help. "Oh, that lousy Remus…"

"What is it?"

"I almost went to _him_ for help."

"You _**WHAT**_!?" They all shouted.

"Look, he told me he was turning over a new leaf! Now I know he was lying for sure!"

"He tried to take the amulet from you, didn't he?" Stingy asked.

"No but he almost tricked me into giving it to him."

"So Remus still only has one amulet?" Ziggy thought aloud.

"Yeah." Stephanie nodded.

"Let's get the Trinity Watch." Pixel said. "Now that we know where Remus is hiding out, we can get the drop on him!"

"Wait." Stephanie said. "First we need to get Clyde back."

* * *

After finishing his morning workout, Clyde heard a buzz coming from the airship's computer. He checked his mail slot and noticed the canister sitting there waiting for him. He picked up the tube and opened the top, revealing the blue slip of paper sitting at the bottom. He pulled out the paper and read aloud Catalina's late-night message:

_Clyde,_

_Don't believe a word they say. Your so-called friends are turning against us. They are trying to tear us apart under the command of that Stephanie girl. She doesn't love you the way I do. She never could. We have to fight for our love to survive. I'll come for you today at Noon and we'll face them all together. Wait for me._

_Love always,_

_Catalina_

"My… friends?" Clyde crumpled the letter in his hand. "Oh, those punks… I thought I could trust them."

Furious, Clyde lowered the platform and hurried onto the surface where he sprinted and flipped his way through the town. As he hurried, Gloria and Ritchie stood by and tilted their heads.

"Where's _he_ running off to?" Ritchie asked.

"Maybe some idiot left their kitten on the tree again." Gloria responded.

With a shrug, the two little tykes went along their business. When Clyde arrived in the park, he saw Stephanie and the others just sitting down on the bench talking. He hopped on one of the walls and called out to them.

"Oh you guys think you're so clever, don't you!?" He pointed at them.

"Clyde!" Stephanie jumped up. "Clyde, listen to me--"

"No!" He snapped. "I know what you're trying to do! And it's not gonna work!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stephanie, why can't you just accept the fact that I don't love you anymore!? Catalina is the girl for me and we belong together! But no! You have to bring Trixie and the others in on your sick scheme! Well you are _not_ gonna tear us apart!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Pixel stood up. "You're being irrational! It's the stuff Catalina's poisoned your mind with!"

"She hasn't done anything to me!"

"Clyde, she works for Remus!" Stephanie tried to reason with him. "He was using her to get to me!"

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not!"

"Just stay out of my life, Stephanie! I don't ever want to see you again!"

"Clyde, you don't mean that."

"Yes I--"

_**CONK!**_

Clyde fell to the floor as Trixie stood above him with a mallet in her hand. She giggled insanely as she gave the wooden hammer a gentle twirl.

"Man, I love this thing!" She exclaimed.

Moments passed and when Clyde finally came around, he found himself tied to a tree with Stephanie and the others watching him closely. He struggled to break free but Trixie threatened to knock him upside the head again.

"Yeah, you just try and break free!" Trixie warned. "C'mon! I dare ya! I friggin' dare ya!"

"Let me go…" He growled under his breath.

"Clyde, that's what we're trying to do." Stephanie pleaded with him. "You need to break free from this spell Catalina has placed on you."

"There is no spell."

"Yeah." Pixel nodded. "It's more like he's hypnotized rather than spellbound."

"Look, whatever!" Stephanie lost her patience. "Clyde, please…"She put her hand on his face then leaned in, placing her forehead against his. She fought back her tears and breathed heavily as Clyde began to feel her warmth and hear her heartbeat grow fast.

"You have to remember how much we mean to each other." She whispered in his ear. "We're the only ones that really understand each other. I know you feel the same way, deep down inside. No matter what. You have to keep fighting, Clyde."

There was an uncomfortable silence as the two interlocked eyes while the others stood by, waiting for some kind of reaction. Stephanie was unsure if her words did anything so she tried another tactic that would hopefully jog his memory. She placed her lips over his and held on tight, releasing a furious passion with every gentle stroke. She moved her head in circles, keeping her kiss tightly sealed and when she finally backed away, Trixie, Stingy, Pixel and Ziggy were staring in awe.

"Whoa…" Stingy's eyes widened.

"Y-yeah…" Trixie giggled awkwardly. "Th-that was… umm…"

"I know." Stephanie exhaled deeply, feeling a bit lightheaded. "Well, Clyde? What do you have to say now?"

Clyde, who remained still gave Stephanie one last look. "…Untie me."

"Oh, for the love of--" Stephanie smacked her head. "Trixie! Plan B!"

"Sweet!" The pig-tailed girl laughed excitedly as she swung her mallet around. "Sorry, Clyde but business is business!"

_**CONK!**_

"Ow!" He wailed. "Stop that!"

_**CONK!**_

"I mean it!"

_**CONK!**_

_**BOP!**_

_**THWACK!**_

"_Madre de dios, no me pegas en mi cabeza!" _

"What the--!?" Trixie stopped for a moment. "Is he speaking Spanish?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know. Hit him again."

_**CONK!**_

"_Ho detto fermata quello questo istantaneo!"_

_**CONK!**_

"_Vous serez pardon pour ça!"_

"Trixie!" Stephanie was now growing impatient.

"I'm sorry!" Trixie panicked. "I didn't know Clyde came with a language setting!"

_**CONK!**_

With that final blow, Clyde lowered his head in a daze and groaned in severe agony. It was at that moment when Catalina appeared from her portal and was startled to find Stephanie and the others in the park surrounding Clyde.

"Clyde!" She shrieked.

Stephanie quickly turned her head and was taken aback by what she saw. Catalina's reaction was the same as the two girls slowly walked towards each other then circled around one another. They examined each other's facial features and body movement before stepping back once again in shock and awe.

"You're Stephanie." Catalina said.

"And you must be Catalina." Stephanie replied.

"Then it's true…" The girl paused for a moment. "… I really _am _a clone."

"But how?"

"I… I don't know."

"Why are you working for Remus?"

"Remus isn't a bad person, he's--"

"Yes, he is!" Trixie and the gang responded in unison.

"You…" Clyde suddenly came around. "…Really work for Remus?"

"Clyde…" Catalina rushed over to the boy. "… What did they do to you?"

"…You work for Remus?" He hissed as the red glow started to seep from his eyes.

"I don't see why that's such a bad thing!"

"Oh, I can't believe I actually thought I was in love with you!" He yelled at her.

"Yup." Pixel checked his scanners. "The stuff wore off. This is _our_ Clyde speaking."

"I can't believe you tried to tear me away from the only girl I love!"

"But I thought--"

"I don't love you! You're not Stephanie! You're an imposter! A fake! A nobody!"

The boy's words shocked Catalina as well as his friends. Even Stephanie thought Clyde had crossed a line.

"Clyde," She started. "I don't think Catalina is really at fault here. It's obvious she was under some kind of delusion Remus planted in her mind."

"I… don't… CARE!" He screamed as he broke through the ropes.

"Oh man!" Trixie whined. "I even double-knotted them and everything!"

Clyde came face to face to a cowering Catalina and threatened her with a menacing glare. "You knew what was going on the whole time…"

"Clyde--" Catalina began to plead but was cut off.

"No!" He snapped. "I can't believe I didn't listen to my friends!"

"I only wanted us to be together!"

"We _don't _belong together! I can finally see what they were trying to tell me! You really _are_ bad news!"

Clyde then burst out into a maniacal fit of laughter as he pulled his hair and waddled around in a daze while Stephanie and the others watched in confusion. Clyde then released his hair, leaving it mussed and sticking out everywhere, as his split personality returned in full throttle:

"_Well I heard some people talking just the other day._

_And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf."_

He crept up behind Catalina and glared at her with a lazy eye:

"_Well let me tell you, I got some news for you. _

_And you'll soon find out its' true._

_And then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself."_

"What!? Why?" Catalina panicked.

"_Because I'm aaaaaaaaaalllllready gone!" _He sang as he spun her around. _"And I'm feeeeeeeeeeeeeling strong! I will siiiiiiiiiiiiiing this victory song! Whoo-hoo-hoo! My, my! Whoo-hoo-hooooo!" _

Clyde then climbed up the tree and hung upside down from it, waving Catalina's note in front of her face. Stephanie and the others just stood by, waiting to intervene should he do something regrettable as he continued:

"_The letter that you wrote me made me stop and wonder why." _He pouted. _"But I guess you felt like you had to set things right."_

Catalina shook her head. "Clyde, I only wanted us to--"

"_Just remember this, my dear!" _He interrupted. _"When you look up in the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light! That's right! And I'm aaaaaaaaaaalllllready gone!" _

Clyde dropped back to the floor and put Catalina in a headlock. _"And I'm feeeeeeeeeeeeling strong! I will siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing this victory song!"_

Stephanie and the others were about to break the two apart when Clyde sung out his heart while giving Catalina a ferocious noogie: _"Whoo-hoo-hoo! My, my! Whoo-hoo-hoooooooooo!" _

Clyde released Catalina and dropped her on the floor as Stephanie and the others chased him around the park, trying to calm him down. As he ran, flipped and sprinted, he became several characters and switched in between them every few seconds. He then pulled out a banana from his pocket and held it against Catalina like a weapon as he sang into the clone's ear:

"_Well I know it wasn't you who held me down. Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free." _He grinned. _"So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains. And we never even know we have the key! But me!?" _

"Clyde!" Stephanie pleaded.

"_I'm aaaaaaaaaaaaallllready gone! And I'm feeeeeeel-feeeeeling strong! I will siiiiiiiiiiiiing this victory song! 'Cuz I'm aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllready gone! And I'm feeeeeeeeeeeeeeling strong! I will siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing--"_

_**CRASH!**_

Clyde's singing came to a sudden halt as he crashed into the tree face first and stood still there for a moment. As he backed away, a bump now forming on his forehead, the young superhero fell to the floor on his back and stared straight up at all his friends.

"…What just happened?" He asked.

Stephanie sighed with relief. "Oh, Clyde…"

* * *

**BEST. BREAK-UP SONG. EVER. **


	22. You Belong To The City

**_A/N: Just when I thought I couldn't hurt myself any more than I already have, it gets worse! Remind me never to play out in the rain WHILE IT'S HAILING!! Ah, well. About the story: From here on out, whatever happens--happens. There's no going back._**

**Chapter 22**

Catalina didn't know what to say or what to do. She saw Stephanie and the others help Clyde back up on his feet and backed away from disbelief. The group turned around and faced the black-haired clone and could see the fear and bewilderment in her eyes.

"Catalina…" Stephanie stepped forward. "…You don't have to go back to Remus."

"I…" She stammered for a bit as she placed a finger on her teleport wristband. "… I can't stay here."

"Catalina, wait!"

It was no use. The girl reopened her portal and returned to her master's lair, leaving Stephanie and the others behind. The pink-haired girl sighed and looked over her shoulder, where a remorseful Clyde stood with his head down.

After an awkward silence, Trixie decided to break the ice. "So what now?"

"Now?" Stephanie looked away from Clyde. "… Now we go to the Trinity Watch."

* * *

In the black tower, an annoyed Remus sat on his self-made throne while his guests sat at a stone table stuffing their faces with the enormous feast placed before them as they talked and talked about things that were of no interest to the man.

"See me, right?" Doug hiccupped as downed a goblet of wine. "If I had the power, I'd level an entire continent and name it after meself! Piranha Island, I'd call it!"

"Yeah or DinsVille!" Dinsdale chuckled.

"Oi!" He smacked his brother. "It's _my _continent and I'll name it how I like!"

"…I'm surrounded by idiots." Remus grumbled under his breath as he rubbed his temple.

Just then, a swirling vortex of energy forged itself in midair as Catalina returned home with bad news and a heavy conscience. As the portal closed, she slowly approached the rocky throne with her head bowed down and a lump in her throat. Remus could see something was wrong and got up from his seat, gently lifting her head up with the tips of his fingers.

He gave her a warm smile and asked, "What's wrong, my dear?"

"I…" She sniffled as a tear fell down her face. "… I failed you, sir."

"Failed me? How?"

"Clyde…" She sniffled again. "He went back to her. She stole him away from me for good. He's no longer in love with me. In fact, I don't think he ever was. I know you wanted the amulet so bad but she wouldn't budge. She really stood her ground. I'm sorry."

Catalina began to break down crying but Remus gently shushed her as he placed his arms on her shoulders. "Oh, Catalina… My dear, you did the best you could. And for that I thank you."

"I--"

"Shh." He put a finger over her mouth. "… But I'm afraid failure is something I just can't tolerate right now."

"But Goggi's pheromone." Catalina said. "If he can make a stronger dose, I can--"

"It's too late for that now!" Remus shouted as he slapped the girl across the face.

Catalina fell over and rolled down the rugged, stony steps of the lair until she landed painfully on the cold, hard floor. The girl was now in a state of shock and agony as she slowly lifted her sprained wrist to wipe the blood forming from the side of her mouth. Remus slowly descended to her level and roughly grabbed her by the hair, a frown spread across his face.

"I give you one simple task and you couldn't even do _that_!" He growled at the crying young girl. "It seems that I made a mistake bringing you to life!"

"Please!" The girl cried. "I'm sorry!"

"It's too late for apologies!" He furiously shoved her back to the floor.

"… B-but I thought…" Catalina stuttered. "… I thought I was--"

"You are _nothing _to me! I only created you so you could carry out my plan! Nothing more!"

"But Clyde--"

"Clyde never knew you existed! Don't you get it!? You stupid girl! It was all a hoax!"

"No!" She continued to sob as she wiped off some more blood.

"You don't belong to him. You don't belong to me. You don't belong to _anybody_!"

Doug and Dinsdale remained quiet at the dinner table as the abuse went on. They turned their attention elsewhere a bit uncomfortably as Remus stood over the cowering young girl. He lifted her by the back of her shirt and put her in her place:

_The sun goes down. The night rolls in._

_You can feel it starting all over again. _

_The moon comes up and the music calls. _

_You're getting tired of staring at the same four walls. _

He then forced the girl over to the room where the black pearl was kept. The pulsating eye began to flash once Catalina entered as Remus continued:

_You're out of your room and down on the street. _

_Moving through the crowd and the midnight heat._

_The traffic rolls, the sirens scream._

_You look at their faces. It's just like a dream._

_Nobody knows where you're going._

_Nobody cares where you've been._

Remus pulled the girl closer to him until they were face to face as he declared:

_You belong to the city. _

_You belong to the night._

_Living in a river of darkness. Beneath the neon lights._

_You were born in the city._

_Concrete under your feet._

_It's in your blood. _

_It's in your moves._

_You're a child of the street._

And with a bit of dark magic, the black pearl surrounded the battered young girl and sent her as far away from the tower as possible. Catalina found herself back in LazyTown as she slowly picked herself up from the grass and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She saw the pond nearby and limped her way over to clean the cuts from her face when she saw her beaten reflection. Furious, the young girl distorted it with her fist and wiped herself clean as she sang to herself:

_When you said goodbye, you were on the run. _

_Trying to get away from the things you've done._

_Now you're back again and you're feeling strange._

_So much has happened but nothing has changed. _

_You still don't know where you're going._

_You're still just a face in the crowd._

Catalina gently got up and looked over to the street, where the Lazy Rock café still stood. She noticed the cars passing by and the people walking before she decided to head back into town.

_You belong to the city._

_You belong to the night._

_Living in a river of darkness. _

_Beneath the neon lights._

_You were born in the city._

_Concrete under your feet. _

_It's in your blood._

_It's in your moves. You're a child of the street._

Inside the police station, while all the officers and some members of the Trinity Watch scurried about, Stephanie and the gang stood before Sportacus and the mayor with their news about Remus.

"You know where he is?" Sportacus asked.

"Yeah!" Stephanie nodded. "Pixel and the others found a vapor trail that allowed them to reopen a portal that could send them to his hideout!"

"Oh dear." Milford gasped. "What were you children thinking!?"

"Hey!" Pixel said. "We're not little kids anymore! We knew the risks we were taking."

"But it doesn't matter anymore!" Ziggy shook his head. "Now that we know where Remus is, we can finally nail him and bring him to justice!"

"Do you know the exact coordinates, Pixel?" Sportacus asked the gizmo guy.

"Sure I do." He nodded confidently.

"Then I guess it's finally come down to this." Sportacus sighed. "I better round up the entire Trinity Watch."

* * *

"Understood, Sportacus." Demetrius said through a video screen as he finished receiving the new police chief's order. "We'll meet up with you at the rendezvous point. Demetrius out."

"Well?" Amelie asked as she stood in the middle of Tower 1 alongside Salazar and Sportacus' parents. "What is it?

"They found Remus' hideout. We are to begin preparations for a full assault. There will be no going back this time."

"Madam," Salazar began as he turned to Jezelle. "Perhaps now would be a good time to discuss certain information to your son."

"I suppose you're right." Jezelle nodded in agreement. "I may not get another chance."

"Don't worry." Hallbjörn said as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Whatever happens, we'll see it through together. Our son has never been one to hold a grudge."

"But to lie to him like that." She shook her head in shame. "I feel like I may have betrayed his trust."

"It was necessary. You did what you had to in order to protect his feelings." Demetrius added. "Now go. Your son is waiting."

Jezelle sighed and reluctantly exited the tower. As she started to walk back into town, she saw a familiar face walking towards the billboard with a startling new expression. For the first time, Robbie Rotten walked towards his home with a smile on his face, a song in his heart and a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

Robbie noticed Sportacus' mother and smiled at her. "Well howdy, stranger! Beautiful day, isn't it!?"

"…Robbie?" Jezelle almost laughed. "Is that really you?"

"The one and only, doll face!" He winked. "Yup! Just getting back from the florist! Thought I'd surprise my old lady with a bunch of flowers and stuff!"

"Old lady?"

"Well, okay, so she's not old exactly. But I love her to death!"

"You're…" She paused to reflect on the thought. "…You're in love?"

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "I'm not used to it either! But since I realized my life means nothing without her, I can move on and forget about Sportakook living here in LazyTown! I don't need to worry about him anymore! I've dropped him like a baby giraffe! If he wants to stay here, fine! Who knows? Maybe one day Rottenella and I can come up with a plan together that will rid the town of that goofy blue monkey forever!"

"Goofy blue monkey?"

"Er, no offense of course."

"Of course." She smiled.

Jezelle remained standing before Robbie and smiled with a sort of pride building up inside her. Robbie noticed this and started to feel uncomfortable as he tried to walk back to his lair.

"Well…" He started. "…It was, uh, nice talking to ya. I guess."

"Robbie?" The woman stopped him in his tracks.

"…Yeah?"

"Does that mean you've renounced your… antagonistic ways?" She said for lack of a better word.

"I…" Robbie thought about it for a second. "… I guess it does."

A smile spread across the woman's face. "I'm proud of you, Robbie. For the man you've become."

"Uhh… thanks?"

"We'll have much more to talk about soon." Jezelle began to leave. "But for now I must see my son."

"Okay! Take care now!" Robbie waved goodbye until she was out of view. "…What a creepy lady. Hot, though. But creepy. Oh well!"

* * *

Chameleon could see he was surrounded and outnumbered. But that didn't matter to him. He stood perfectly still as he began to chuckle, eventually loosening up a bit and gyrating his head about.

"What's so funny?" Astral asked, his metallic wand still at the ready.

"This!" Chameleon yelled as he grabbed hold of Astral's arm and twisted it before the old man had time to think.

The magic of the wand unleashed a bolt of energy that hit the wall and caused some of the pillars to fall down. As the dust clouds arose, Chameleon shrouded himself with the surroundings and beat everyone to the floor again. He took Astral's wand away from him, along with the map and rushed out of the room and back into the temple where the stony sculpture remained.

"My lord…" Chameleon pointed the wand at Khan's sculpture. "… You are free now! Arise, Reiko Jynn Khan and live once again!"

The wand then emitted a thin strand of white light from its sharp tip as it hit the statue's chest. Soon the entire shrine became enshrouded with the magic energy as the gold began to crumble up and fall to the floor. After a few minutes, a living figure dusted off the remaining flakes of pure gold from his black and yellow Oriental robe and jumped off the brick pedestal. The Asian man looked middle-aged with short black hair with gray stripes evenly spread out and grinned at the sight of his kneeling servant.

"Arise, my friend." He said softly. "Arise."

"My lord…" Chameleon said as he got back up. "I have the map. Our destiny awaits us elsewhere."

"Very good, Chameleon. Where?"

"In a region known as the Trinity. Someone is waiting for our return."

Just then, Astral and the others barged in on the two inside the temple and gasped at the frightful sight before them. Immediately, Reiko and Astral recognized each other as Bob and the Professor exchanged glances.

"Astral Fulgore." Reiko growled. "You disappoint me."

"You're not going anywhere." The monk threatened.

"I disagree."

And with that, in a cloud of smoke, Chameleon and his master vanished before their very eyes. Just when things couldn't get any worse, they did. Reiko Jynn Khan was back.

* * *

**_A/N: Well it's official. This is now the LONGEST LazyTown fic I've ever written. Oh and just so's ya know, I fixed the glitches in Chapter 21._**


	23. The Long Run

**_A/N: And now the song that inspired this story!!_**

**Chapter 23**

Inside the black tower, Remus paced around in the middle of the room as he spoke with Goggi via the earpiece he wore while the Piranhas remained seated in the lounge.

"Is everything ready to go, Goggi?" Remus asked.

"Yes." The tech wizard's voice said through the piece. "The only problem now is how to pin it all on our elected patsy." There was a break in the transmission by some fuzzy static until Goggi's voice resurfaced. "Wait a minute… Hold on, I think I'm onto something here…"

* * *

Back in his lair, Robbie sat comfortably in his fuzzy orange chair with a brand new addition wrapped around his arms. Rottenella felt safe and secure in his embrace and buried herself even more in his tight grasp while Robbie closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet smell. Robo-Hound watched the two make lovey-dovey faces to one another and shook his head with a low whimper.

"I can't believe I'm finally here in your arms." Rottenella said aloud.

"That's a good thing… right?" Robbie gulped.

"Of course it is!" She smiled at him. "I've been waiting so long for you to open up to me and now that I'm here in your arms…"

Robbie giggled as he felt her hand playing with his neck. "Well, I uhh… uhh…"

Inside the lair, however, they didn't realize someone was watching them. The small camera inserted in one of the pipes fed the uplink to Goggi's laptop, where he could monitor his so-called "patsy". The green-haired cohort sat atop of a telephone pole, disguised once again as an electrician and kept a close eye on Robbie, overhearing his conversation with Rottenella.

"Y'know, Rottenella," Robbie continued. "I've been thinking about our future."

"Our future?" She asked.

"Yeah. I think I can finally admit that being with you has made me happier than I'd ever been before."

"Really?" Her face lit up.

"Really. In fact, I think I could actually get used to this feeling. So what do you say? You wanna get hitched?"

"Marriage?"

A feeling of rejection started to swell in him. "Uhh… well, if you don't want to, I completely underst--"

"YES!" She interrupted him as she threw her arms around him.

"You will!?" A new feeling of joy spread around the Rotten one. "Great!"

"Wait a minute…" Rottenella paused for a moment. "Don't you think we're going too fast?"

There was another moment of silence. Rottenella thought about this carefully as Robbie twiddled his fingers, afraid of the outcome. The negative feelings were coming back again until Rottenella shrugged.

"Aw, screw it." She said as she placed her lips over Robbie's.

"Wonderful!" Robbie said as he got up from the chair. "I'm gonna head into town and ask the mayor if I can announce our wedding to all of LazyTown! Everyone's invited!"

"Even Sportacus?"

"Sure, why not!?"

"But I thought you pretty much hated everyone in the town."

"I don't hate them. I just can't stand them." He winked. "Besides, think of all the wedding gifts we'll receive!"

"Robbie, you're a genius!"

Goggi closed his laptop with a grin on his face. He switched his earpiece back on and reported back to his master. "Remus? I think I've got an idea…"

* * *

As the TrinityWatch hurried all over town, preparing for their assault, Stephanie and the others walked along the streets with an uneasy feeling in them.

"Is this really happening?" Trixie asked. "Our towns at war with a psycho?"

"I guess so." Stephanie said as she looked around for a moment. "Has anyone seen my uncle?" She shrugged when something caught her eye.

She saw Clyde come down from his airship as he surveyed the area for his uncle when he stared straight back at her. With a deep breath, Stephanie walked towards the boy and lowered her head a bit as to avoid any awkward glances. Clyde did the same and put a hand to his neck as he came up with something to say.

"Hey." He started.

"Hey." She replied.

"Steph…" He sighed. "… I'm sorry. About everything."

"I know you are. But you don't have to be. It wasn't your fault. You were under her influence."

"That doesn't make what I said any less real."

"Yes it does, Clyde. I know you didn't mean those things that you said."

"I know. It's just… I can't believe I said them."

"Catalina wanted you to say them. To tear us apart."

"So I guess she really was a bad guy, huh?"

"Not bad. Just confused."

"I tried to fight it. But it was too powerful for me to overcome."

"I guess we came to your rescue in the nick of time." She smiled.

"Yeah, so you're welcome!" Trixie hollered from afar.

Clyde chuckled a bit as he brought Stephanie closer to him in his arms. "Thank you."

"Aww! That's so cute!" Trixie continued to tease them.

"So you think you two can stay out of trouble now, please?" Pixel added in as he and the others caught up with the lovebirds.

"I guess so." Stephanie shrugged.

"I know so!" Clyde said. "You? Me? We're tough! We can make this thing of ours last for all time. I'm willing to go the distance if you are, Steph."

A smile spread across the pink-haired girl's face as she leaned in and kissed her boyfriend. When she parted, she tilted her head back as she hung from his neck and smiled at her friends.

"Yup!" She said before pouring her heart out. "This one's a keeper!

_I used to hurry a lot! I used to worry a lot! _

_I used to stay out till the break of day._

_Oh, that didn't get it. _

_It was high time I quit it._

_I just couldn't carry on that way. _

Clyde nodded and swung his beloved around before holding her close:

_Oh, I did some damage. I know it's true._

_Didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you._

_You can go the distance. _

_We'll find out in the long run._

"_In the long run!" _Trixie, Stingy, Pixel and Ziggy shouted in unison.

Stephanie continued, _"We can handle some resistance if our love is a strong one."_

"_Is a strong one!" _

"_People talking about us." _Clyde shook his head. _"They got nothing else to do. When it all comes down, we will still come through. In the long run."_

"_Ooh, I want to tell you, it's a long run."_ Stephanie hugged the boy.

Meanwhile, Robbie and Rottenella noticed the Mayor's podium already set up on a wooden stage that for some reason was reserved for Robbie. The banners and ribbons decorating it dangled a sign that simply read: R. ROTTEN.

"Wow." He said. "I didn't even speak to the mayor yet."

"Well we couldn't find him." Rottenella pointed out.

"Oh well! I'll take what I can get!"

"Don't you find this a bit weird?"

"Hmm… Nope! Can't say that I do!"

The friends then found themselves walking past the Trinity Watchmen and past the Lazy Rock café, where the whole mess started. They turned every corner until they were in the courtyard, where Clyde turned around and faced Stephanie.

"_You know I don't understand why you don't treat yourself better." _He continued. "_Do the crazy things you do. 'Cause all the debutantes in Houston, baby, couldn't hold a candle to you."_

Stephanie shrugged and replied, "_Did you do it for love? Did you do it for money? Did you do it for spite? Did you think you had to, honey? Who is gonna make it? We'll find out in the long run."_

"_In the long run!" _The four shouted once again.

"_I know we can take it if our love is a strong one."  
_

"_Is a strong one!" _

Clyde put his arms on the girl's shoulders. "_Well we're scared, but we ain't shaking."_

Stephanie nodded. "_Kind of bent but we ain't breaking."_

"_In the long run!" _Everyone sang in unison. _"Oh, I want to tell you it's a long run. In the long run. In the long run. In the long run…"_

As their song ended, Pixel laughed to himself. "I guess now all we have to do is work on Stingy and Trixie's relationship then we'll all be fine!"

"Pixel." Trixie pulled out her mallet. "I'd start running if I were you."

In his airship, Sportacus suited up and ran a final scan on the computer when his mother entered through the platform. He turned to her and stopped everything he was doing.

"Mother." He said. "Is everything all right?"

"I don't know." She said. "You tell me."

"I'm sure you've heard by now about our plans to raid Remus' lair."

"I have."

"Don't worry, ma. I'll be fine."

"I know you will. But there's something we need to talk about."

"Can it wait?"

"I've already _been_ waiting, Magnus. For such a long time, I've wanted to tell you everything your father and I have discovered."

"Discovered what?"

"Something that concerns our family and the safety of our homeland."

"What?"

"It also concerns Berto."

"Ma, I really don't have time for this." Sportacus sighed. "We'll talk later, I promise."

"But it's important!"

"So is stopping Remus." Sportacus said as he left the ship in a hurry.

The hero in blue descended to the ground and met up with Demetrius and the others, who had already assembled the Trinity Watch. Jasper, Lou, Salazar and Amelie were amongst those who were now ready to fight. Sportacus held a small keypad in his hand and showed it to his group, explaining the plan out to them.

"All right, you guys." He started. "Once we arrive there, we'll leave the airship a few meters away from our target as to avoid any detection. From there we'll walk in and…"

Sportacus noticed Robbie on the wooden stage, trying to adjust the microphone. Demetrius noticed Sportacus looking confused and looked around.

"Sportacus?" He asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Where's the mayor?" The hero in blue asked. "And what's Robbie doing up there?"

Nearby, a disguised Halla spoke through her earpiece with a grin on her face. "Everything's ready to go. We set the stage up just like you asked."

"Good job." Goggi's voice replied. "Now it's _my_ turn to shine."

"PEOPLE OF LAZYTOWN!" Robbie's voice exploded through the microphone and layers and layers of feedback that rang in the townspeople's ears.

"Whoa…" Rottenella said as she shook her head to drown out the ringing in her ears.

"Oops." Robbie said as he adjusted the volume controls. "Now, look! I know now is probably a bad time but I'm just so darn happy I couldn't contain myself!"

Stephanie and the others arrived in the town center, walking past the crowds of people who all displayed confused looks on their faces.

"Did Robbie just say he was happy?" Trixie asked.

"But it seems that I've fallen in love!" Robbie continued.

"WHAAAAAAAT!?" The townspeople shouted in disbelief.

"Hi!" Rottenella smiled and waved at the people.

"Get off the stage, Robbie!" A random person shouted.

"No, wait!" He pleaded. "I've got a surprise for you all! Something that just might light up this town!"

Then, in a cruel twist of fate, the region behind Robbie suddenly blew up. The ground, trees, buildings and other structures were engulfed in a rising wall of fire that befuddled the town villain. The townspeople panicked and scurried about when another side of town exploded as well. Soon a chain reaction of explosions headed down the line in LazyTown, suffocating the people in a chokehold of fear, confusion and utter terror. Robbie just stood there and was unsure of what to say as he hadn't expected this to happen and now he could see Sportacus eyeballing him with an incomprehensible fury.

"ROBBIE!" He shouted at the man. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

"Umm, I, uhh…" He stammered. "I didn't do it! Wait, did I?"

"No!" Rottenella shrieked.

"NO! I didn't!"

As the fires spread and the buildings collapsed, the four doppelgangers snuck up behind their counterparts and knocked them over the head with a metal prod. They then snuck up behind Stephanie and gagged her, kidnapping her in plain view. Stephanie struggled with her captors as the people ran in different directions and managed to get her voice across.

"CLYDE! SPORTACUS!" She yelled.

"Stephanie?" Clyde turned around and noticed his friends knocked out on the floor.

"CLYDE!!"

The green-eyed boy looked up and saw his beloved being taken away by the doppelgangers and attempted to chase after them. "Stephanie! I'm coming!"

The crowds of people were too much for the boy as he fought his way past them until he saw a bright light flash in the distance. He knew he was too late. Stephanie was now gone.

"No…" He said in disbelief. "NO!"

Sportacus balled up his fists and stared at Robbie as he ran away with his fiancée. "Jasper! Lead a team to go after Robbie! Make sure he doesn't escape! Understand me?"

"Ya got it, big blue!" Jasper nodded. "Yee-haw! C'mon, boys! We got ourselves a fish to fry!"

"Amelie. Salazar. Take another group of Watchmen to help the firefighters extinguish the town."

"Oui, monsieur." The Frenchwoman nodded as she and the Spaniard led the group away.

"Everyone else, we're taking Remus down now."

"I'm going with you." Clyde said as he approached his uncle.

"No, Clyde. It's too dangerous."

"They took Stephanie."

"What? Who did?"

"I don't know. But I think they work for Remus."

"Well it looks like we're going too!" Trixie said as she and her friends suddenly came around. "You think somebody can pull a fast one on me and get away with it!?"

Sportacus looked at his youngest friends and nodded, half a smile forming on his face. "All right. Let's go save the day."

* * *

Astral stood there still and quiet, his mind processing the dreadful fact of Khan's return. After a moment, he sighed and turned to his colleagues with a look of defeat on his face.

"We must head back now." He said.

"What!?" Bob hopped onto his shoulder. "Are ya crazy!? We came all the way over here, got arrested, got beaten to the floor and almost killed for information about some stupid amulets and now you're gonna say we're just gonna up and leave _without_ it!?"

"The Trinity is in danger, Bob. We can't dawdle any longer."

"The information is on that map, Astral." Tarkin said. "However not all of it."

"Not all of it?"

"Chameleon took one half of a map of the entire region surrounding Mutari. I suspect the other half is awaiting him back where he is heading."

"The Trinity."

"If Remus somehow gains possession of two of the amulets, their magic will combine and point out the direction of the remaining two on the map. _If _the map is rejoined as a whole."

"Gah!" The Professor gasped. "Then what the heck are we doing thtanding around here!? We've gotta blow thith popthicle thtand now!"

"Take this." Tarkin handed Astral a glowing orb. "It will transport you to wherever you need to be. I suspect many things have changed since your departure."

"Well we couldn't have been gone for long." Bob shrugged. "What, two, three weeks maybe?"

"One year." Tarkin said. "You've been here in Mutari for one whole year without even realizing it."

"You're joking, right?"

"The passage of time here moves rather quickly unlike some other lands where it moves slowly. It's one of the secrets behind our magic."

"And should we need to return, Tarkin?" Astral asked the man.

"You know where to find me."

"Thank you."

"Fare thee well, people of Mutari!" Dramatik decided to perform a final short note:

"_Though you broke our backs and whip-lashed mine, we've all shared many laughs. _

_So now I bid you adieu, bon voyage and you can all kiss my ass!" _

Dramatik then stuck his tongue out and gave the Mutari council the one finger salute before he transported out of the city of gold with his friends. The centurions and magicians were left standing a bit confused.

* * *

**_UP NEXT: The Showdown!!_**


	24. The Last Resort

**_A/N: Okay, so I just got back from watching Iron Man. And, umm... WOW. Anyhoo, lots of stuff going on in this chapter so expect a few surprises. _**

**Chapter 24**

Stephanie awoke to find a familiar face grinning evilly at her. In a panic, she crawled back along the stony floor and took a second to view her dark, damp and cold surroundings. She noticed the device Goggi had made which kept the Earth amulet hovering in between the four metal prods and their electrical flow. She turned her head and saw a small light emanating from the room where the eye was kept then noticed the Piranha brothers sitting at the dinner table. Finally, she took one last glance at Remus and stood up with a raging malice building up inside her.

"You again." She growled.

"Hello, dear." Remus teased. "I'm sorry we have to meet in such dreadful circumstances."

"You lied to me."

"Did I?"

"You said you were ready to turn yourself in. Give up the power and--"

"And I also said I was through concerning myself with LazyTown and the rest of the Trinity. I didn't lie about that."

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want."

"I'm not giving you the amulet."

"Stephanie, dear, I did not go through all this trouble to bring you here only to be denied my prize."

"You mean _you_ planted those bombs?"

Remus grinned without saying a word as his four cohorts suddenly appeared from the darkness. Stephanie recognized their faces from her previous encounter with them and shook her head.

"It's you four…" She groaned.

"Hi." Halla waved at the girl. "Did you ever fix that mess with your boyfriend?"

"Halla, be civil." Remus teased. "She tried so hard to get him back."

"You say you're all powerful, Remus." Stephanie mocked him. "So why the charade? Why have Robbie bomb the town as a distraction or hypnotize Clyde and confuse me to give the amulet to you? Why couldn't you have just taken it from me if you're so powerful?"

"Unfortunately, Stephanie, the amulet's magic won't work for me unless its owner hands it over willingly. I'm here to convince you."

"Well then I suggest you pull up a chair because we're gonna be here all night."

"So you say." Remus then nodded at his cohort. "Goggi, if you please…"

Goggi pressed a few keys in his control pad, which caused a small platform to rise from the ground. Standing with his body tied to a metal rod was the mayor, gagged with tape and slightly beaten over the head. Stephanie was taken aback and gasped at the sight of her uncle, who stood there helplessly as a pawn in Remus' sick game.

"Uncle Milford!" She started towards him before Halla kicked her to the ground.

"Not so fast, girlie." The red-haired girl warned. "Or your uncle's fertilizer."

"So you see, Stephanie?" Remus crouched over the girl. "Not only do I have the power to crush you but I also have the power to make you do whatever I want."

He then stuck his hand out and stared directly into Stephanie's scared watery eyes. Hesitant but afraid of the consequences concerning her uncle, she reached into her shirt and pulled out the amulet, slowly lifting the chain above her neck and into her enemy's grasp.

"At last…" Remus said as he closed his eyes and absorbed the Fire amulet's energy.

The former superhero placed the Fire amulet into the energy harness next to the Earth amulet and took a few steps back before spreading his arms. Soon the entire room became illuminated by beams of red and green energy that clung onto Remus' body and crawled all over him. The villain laughed maniacally as he could feel his body changing and merging with the power of the two elements while Stephanie watched in horror.

When the transformation was complete Remus slowly turned around with his hands to his face and reveled in his youthful appearance, which had been fully restored by the addition of the Fire amulet's magic. Hodge handed Remus a small handheld mirror, which Remus held onto with great joy as he checked himself out and laughed some more.

"YESSSS!!" He cried as he stroked his thin blond locks. "Yes! Oh happy day! I'm young again! Whoo-hoo!"

"Wow, boss." Hodge nodded in agreement. "It really worked."

"Of course it worked!" He then positioned the mirror over his rear. "Oh my--would you look at that butt!? Now _that_ is a butt! I _love_ this butt!"

"…Remus…" A very scared Stephanie said as she stood back up. "…My uncle."

"Huh?" He lowered the mirror and remembered his hostage. "Oh yeah. Sure, sure, whatever…"

Stephanie hurried over to the platform and untied her uncle from the rod, preventing the weakened man from falling over. "I'm here, uncle. You'll be okay."

"Stephanie…" He said out of breath. "…What happened? Where am I?"

"It's okay. We're gonna get help."

"Sorry, my dear." Remus said as he and his minions walked forward. "But I can't risk you ruining my plans."

"What plans!?" Stephanie shouted. "What are you going to do!?"

Just then, a loud rumbling caused the interior of the tower to rumble as a familiar voice called out from a speaker, "This is the Trinity Watch! We have the place surrounded! The game's over, Remus!"

"Sportacus!" Stephanie's face lit up.

"Oh please…" Remus rolled his eyes back as he snapped his fingers.

Outside the tower, the small band of Watchmen suddenly found themselves under attack by flying limbs of black rock. The airship hovering above moved its searchlights about, trying to see what was happening on the bottom. Sportacus recognized the rock creatures as they pummeled the Watchmen to the ground and sighed.

"His power has been restored." He said softly.

Inside the tower, Doug and Dinsdale made their reappearance and shielded themselves from the falling rubble as they stood next to Remus and his minions. The evil one grinned as he moved his arms about, controlling the earth elements to beat the Watchmen around and caused several eruptions of fire in the process.

"Oi!" Doug hollered at the man. "Careful 'ow you do that!"

Suddenly, the entire ceiling collapsed as Sportacus came crashing down, repelled from a rope. Soon after, Stingy came charging through the walls in his hornet with his friends tagging along for the ride and parked right beside Stephanie and her uncle.

"Who the bloody hell are _these _guys!?" Doug continued to whine. "What's going on!? When do we get paid!?"

"Give up, Remus." Sportacus warned the man.

"Let me think about… uhh… no." Remus toyed with him as he unleashed an energy wave of fire from his hands.

Sportacus leapt into the air and dodged the attack before rolling along the floor and grabbing his opponent by the wrists. "You're not getting away this time."

"Funny! Neither are you!" And with that, Remus head-butt Sportacus and immobilized him momentarily.

But Remus wasn't in the clear yet when another familiar voice challenged him. "Hey, Jethro!"

Stephanie looked up and was relieved to see Clyde arriving at the scene, wearing his hero costume at long last. The suit was a green and lime alternate of his uncle's with a chest emblem of a fist with the words 'RIGHT ON" etched around it. His hat was different too, giving his outfit more of a militaristic feel to it simply by being a green beret. Clyde hurried over to Stephanie and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on the head.

"Clyde…" She said softly.

"I'm here now." He smiled.

"Well isn't this romantic!?" Remus stomped his foot. "Looks like I get to kill _both _of you!"

Remus began the offensive as he unleashed his dark magic on the two lovebirds. Meanwhile, the doppelgangers spread out across the room and finally came face to face with their counterparts. Halla armed herself with a slingshot as Trixie readied her mallet and twirled it around.

"So you think you know all about troublemaking?" Trixie taunted. "Ha! You're an amateur compared to me!"

"Don't even go there, pigtails." Halla kept her target close.

"Look who's talking."

Halla released her marble and quickly rolled along the floor to reload as Trixie managed to deflect the attack. Hall kept flinging her ammo at her opponent but Trixie, being the expert markswoman she was, managed to keep them off her.

Close by, one of Halla's shiny marbles rolled its way over to Stingy, who looked down and marveled at its beauty. He picked up the small orb and examined it with his eyes wide open.

"Ooh. Shiny." He said.

"Excuse me." Hodge tapped the boy on the shoulder. "But that's mine."

Stingy's jaw dropped as he found the marble being plucked from his hand. "Hey, wait a minute! I found it first!"

"What the--!?" Hodge gasped as the marble was then plucked from him. "Give it back!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

The two boys immediately wrestled each other on the cold hard floor, fighting for possession of the useless marble. Elsewhere, Ziggy found himself being struck across the face by Sweetchuck's thick bar of chocolate.

"Aah!" Ziggy squealed as he touched his chocolate stained face. "I've been branded!"

"Der, you look kinda funny, hahaha!" Sweetchuck giggled like an idiot. "Now, c'mon! Admit it! Chocolate's the best!"

"Never!" Ziggy swung his lollipop around. "Lollipops are life!"

"Lollipops!? Duh, those are stooooopid!"

"Screw you! Lollipops are awesome!"

Soon the two candy aficionados began a war of the sweets as they swung their preferred candies around like blades of steel. The blocky chocolate tapped against the smooth surface of the lollipop but the two combatants refused to back down.

In the midst of it all, Goggi and Pixel prepared to have a showdown of their own as they pressed several keys on their wristbands and armed themselves with their inventions. Goggi shot his fist out and released a digitized net from his wristband as it flung towards Pixel. The gizmo guy dodged the net and watched as it enwrapped the metal rod and melted its surface. Pixel sighed and sent forth three metallic orbs flying from his wristband. The orbs spun into orbit around Goggi and began tasering him to the floor much to Pixel's amusement.

"That's why they call me the 'Gizmo Guy'." Pixel looked down at his opponent.

Clyde and Stephanie worked together to avoid Remus' every move until the evil one managed to strike Clyde in the chest with an energy blast and sent him rolling along the floor.

"Clyde!" Stephanie shrieked.

"And now, Stephanie…" Remus pointed at her. "It's your turn."

"No…"

"I've been waiting a long time for this moment."

Then in a miraculous display of good timing, Astral and his companions emerged from a swirling flame of white light and immediately assessed the situation.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a bit longer, Remus." Astral said, his metallic wand at the ready.

"Astral!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Astral." Remus frowned. "Why does it always have to be _him_!?"

"You may have the power." The old monk spoke. "But you don't have the skill."

With a quick flick of his wrist, Astral trapped Remus in a spiral of energy and hurled him across the room, dropping him on top of his cohorts. Halla, Goggi, Sweetchuck and Hodge were all taken out instantly, leaving the Piranha brothers to reevaluate their careers.

"Hey, Doug?" Dinsdale began. "Should we, like, y'know… bugger off or something?"

"You two?" Sportacus said as he came around. "…What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey! Look Dinsy!" Doug nudged his brother. "It's that superhero bloke we met in the mountains!"

"Oh yeah!" Dinsdale shook Sportacus' hand. "How are ya, Sporty?"

"How did you get here?"

"We was working for Remus here."

"What!?"

A frustrated Remus stood back up and charged his energy for another attack until Astral paralyzed him with a shock from his wand. As Astral kept his weapon pointed straight at his enemy, Stephanie looked down on the former hero and scoffed.

"Not so tough now, are you?" She glared. "The amulets, if you please…"

"Sure." He nodded as he pointed towards the energy harness. "Over there."

Stephanie approached the four metal prods and reached for the two floating medallions until a swift kick in her chest sent her flying towards the Professor and Dramatik. The two men caught her and immediately realized who had now just joined the party.

"Uh-oh." The Professor gulped. "Thith can't be good."

Chameleon revealed himself to the crowd and began putting the beat-down on everybody while he held the rolled up map in his hand. Dinsdale noticed the scroll and compared it to the one he had until another familiar face snatched it away and knocked him unconscious from behind.

"Stephanie! Catch!" Catalina called out as she tossed the map over to her.

"Catalina?" Stephanie caught the scroll. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm choosing a side."

"Enough!" Chameleon smacked the pink-haired girl across the face. "Give me the map!"

"Chameleon!" Remus got up as he engaged in another duel with Astral. "Where is Reiko!?"

"He's waiting for us! We cannot linger!"

Clyde and Sportacus reached out and placed Chameleon in a lock, restraining his arms while Dramatik and the Professor bound his legs. This gave Bob the chance to hop on and take the scroll from his hands.

"I'll take that, thank you!" The rabbit taunted.

Chameleon struggled to break free but the gang stood their ground while Bob hopped on over to Stephanie with the 2nd half of the map. Stephanie smiled and pet the rabbit as she took the missing piece.

"Thanks, Bob!" She said. "What happened to you guys?"

"Long story!" He replied.

"It's not over yet!" Catalina said.

Then, Remus managed to push back Astral with his magic abilities and used his surroundings to formulate a golden spear in midair. He twirled his weapon about, absorbing Astral's wand attacks and rerouted the energy towards every single one of his opponents. Stephanie fell to the floor, the two pieces still in her hands, and attempted to crawl away. He saw the young girl cowering before him and raised his spear above his head, preparing to plunge it into her.

"And now, Stephanie!" He began. "It's time I put you away for good!"

"Stephanie!" Clyde screamed.

But before Remus could reach his target, Catalina jumped in the way and protected her friend by taking the spear in her chest. She winced at the pain and choked as everyone gasped at the sight before them. Remus raised the impaled young girl with his weapon and tossed her aside like nothing, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Such a waste." He groaned.

"It's too late now! We must head back!" Chameleon interjected, holding Remus back.

"Never!"

"Remus! The mission! We cannot abort our mission!"

Frustrated and obviously defeated, Remus looked at his surroundings and realized Chameleon was right. He had an agenda to stick to and he couldn't afford to waste any more time. Using his abilities, Remus rounded up himself, the doppelgangers, Chameleon and the Piranha brothers and prepared to transport them out of the falling tower when Stingy picked up the bloody spear.

"Hey!" He yelled as he ran towards them. "This fight isn't over!"

"Stingy, Come back here!" Sportacus ordered.

"Foolish boy." Remus said under his breath as he blasted him with a green ray of light.

Now Stingy stood still as a figure of stone, wielding the golden spear Remus had made. At the last minute, he was transported away with the evil wizard and his minions as the black tower continued to fall.

"STINGY!!" Trixie's voice rang out.

"We have to get out of here!" Sportacus said as he pulled her away from the collapsing ceiling and evacuated everyone to safety.

In a matter of minutes, the entire black tower crumbled and fell within a cloud of dust and smoke as the airship fled the Forbidden Zone. Inside the ship, the Watchmen attended to their wounded as Stephanie and Clyde stood over a dying Catalina on a medical bed.

"Catalina…" Stephanie said softly. "Why…"

"I made a choice." She breathed heavily. "… And I stuck by it. I wasn't… I wasn't going to let Remus…"

"What was he planning to do?"

"He didn't need the amulets themselves…. Just their power."

"What about the maps?"

"… Keep them with you…"

Catalina began to cough and struggled even more with her breathing as Clyde wiped a bit of sweat from her pale brow. He looked down on her with a somber frown and sighed heavily.

"Forgive me." He whispered.

Using her last bit of energy, she grabbed Clyde's and Stephanie's hands and put them together before forming a smile on her face. "You two… stay strong. And you'll overcome… anything."

And with that, Catalina dropped her hand and tilted her head slightly before closing her eyes for the last time. She was now dead. With a tear in her eye, Stephanie gripped Clyde's hand tightly and buried her face in his chest while he comforted her as best he could.

On another side of the airship, Trixie looked out the window as Pixel and Ziggy walked up behind her. She was still and quiet, unsure of what to say, think or do. Right now there was nothing anyone could do.

"We'll get him back, Trixie." Pixel said.

Trixie remained quiet and continued to stand there, her back to her friends. Sportacus remained at his post, piloting his airship and returned to LazyTown. He looked at the damage done and was thankful the fires had been put out just in time. There was one last destination he needed to go to and he wasn't about to stop now.

* * *

"Let me go! You've got the wrong guy!" Robbie pleaded as he and Rottenella remained tied to a chair.

"Well, sir, I had strict orders to hunt ya down and hogtie ya!" Jasper replied as he and his team of Watchmen had the two surrounded with their weapons. "And I ain't about to let Big Blue down!"

"You can let him go." Sportacus said as he entered the room slowly and menacingly.

"Oh Sportacus!" Robbie's face lit up as he was let go. "I'm so glad to see you! Tell them it was all a mistake! Tell them that--"

"Shut up." Sportacus interrupted as he pinned the man against the wall.

"Okaaaaaay…" Robbie was taken aback. "…This is a new reaction from you."

"Why did you do it, Robbie?"

"I didn't!"

"Don't lie to me. I know you were just helping Remus out with a distraction. But bombing the town? That's a new low, Rotten."

"But I didn't--"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Sportacus then threw the resident villain to the floor and readied to beat him up when his mother came into view. She placed her hand over her son's fist and looked at him disapprovingly.

"Don't do it, Magnus." She said.

"Ma? What are you doing here? Let me punish--"

"I said don't! I forbid you to harm this man."

"What!? Why!?"

"He's innocent."

"How do you know!?"

"I just do. He is incapable of such an act."

"You don't know him like I do, Ma!"

"Yes, I do."

"How!?"

"He's your brother."


	25. Long Road Out Of Eden

**_A/N: And so we reach the end of my musical…_**

**The Final Chapter**

Everyone stood around the grave under the sunset and reflected for a brief moment. Catalina came into the world as a pawn of some sick man's evil scheme and was misguided from the start, doing his bidding and trying to break the hearts of many. But in the end she knew she would have to earn her humanity and decide for herself who she really was and what she stood for. Now she laid before them six feet underground. Dead. She wanted to redeem herself and finally stand for something that was worth fighting for and perhaps even dying for. She succeeded. But not without having an impact on those who now stood around her grave at this moment, admiring the hero she eventually became.

"She wasn't evil." Stephanie sniffled. "She was just… confused."

"I know." Clyde nodded as he held her hand tight. "She's at peace now."

"I hate to bring this up at a time like this…" Pixel started. "…But what happens now? The bad guys are still out there."

"Yeah but they didn't get anything." Ziggy said.

Trixie looked at the boy and shook her head in disagreement. "They got Stingy."

Everyone nodded and kept quiet as they slowly left the shade of the tree, descending the small hill. Stephanie stopped for a moment and took one last look at the gray stone which simply read, CATALINA, and remembered her last words.

"We won't let you down, Cat."

* * *

Milford and Ms. Busybody walked along the ravaged streets of LazyTown, surveying the area while members of the Trinity Watch helped the city's cleanup crew cleared the wreckage. The burned buildings, broken roads and dead trees that encircled the once peaceful town were enough to keep Milford's spirits dampened while the best Bessie could do was just nurture him.

"What happened, Bessie?" He asked her, a whimper in his voice. "What happened to my town? _Our_ town? There was a time when we didn't have to worry about things like this and now…"

He crouched down and picked up what appeared to be a child's doll, burned in the fire. "…Now the children will live in total fear, knowing we still have a madman on the loose."

"It wasn't your fault, Milford." Bessie tried to comfort him. "These things happen unexpectedly."

"It shouldn't have to. Cosgrove was right. Things are worse now than they ever were."

"Perhaps." Demetrius said as he approached the two. "But we are ready to help you any way we can."

"Help?"

"To rebuild. Everything that once stood tall will stand again. LazyTown isn't dead. It's just hurting. And we're here to ease the pain."

"How? Everything that's happened. I just don't--"

"All you need is faith, Milford. Faith in your town, in your people and in everyone who believes things will change for the better. You're the man who can make that change. Don't let them down."

With a grin, Milford looked at Bessie, who was smiling back at him and looked around at everyone who was helping repair the damages. "You're right. Let's get busy."

* * *

Underground, Robbie held Rottenella's hand firmly in his while a confused and angry Sportacus stood before him. They were surrounded in turn by Jezelle, Hallbjörn, Amelie and Salazar, who each held a small electronic device.

"He can't be my brother." Sportacus shook his head in disbelief. "He just can't be."

"Magnus, look at him." Jezelle pleaded. "You know this to be true. Deep down inside, he is your brother."

"He's a nuisance. A small, cowardly and petty grouch who likes to bully anyone smaller than him. And he's not even good at that."

"Hey, now!" Robbie griped. "Let's not go too far!"

"Admit it, Robbie. You're a hack."

"But a reformed hack!"

"What?"

"I swear! I'm a good guy now!"

"How do I know you're not lying? You've worked with Remus before. You could have planted those bombs."

"But he didn't." Salazar interrupted. "The fingerprints all pointed to one Goggi Mega from Aðalsteinn. _Your_ homeland."

Sportacus was surprised by this and turned to Robbie, unsure of what to say. "Robbie…"

"What?" Rotten gulped.

"Wait a minute." Rottenella realized something. "Your brother's name was Berto, right?"

"Yes." Sportacus nodded.

"Hold on… Berto… could be short for _Roberto_…" She explained. "Roberto turns to _Robert_, which then turns to--"

"Robbie." Sportacus sighed as he faced his mother. "I still don't see how you knew all this. You told me you declared him dead."

"We only said it so you wouldn't get your hopes up." Jezelle replied. "We wanted to be sure first before we told you the truth."

"But what made you think Robbie was my brother in the first place?"

Hallbjörn looked at his wife and decided to explain for her. "Magnus, do you remember the NX class airships?"

"You mean the early prototypes that were retired after Jon was born?"

"Yes. Do you remember the one we had?"

"The…" Sportacus thought for a moment. "…The NX-07?"

Hallbjörn nodded. "It went missing one day. The day Berto mysteriously disappeared. We looked everywhere for him, never mind the airship, but we couldn't find him."

"The years went by when we searched and searched all the while we trained you and Jon to be the heroes you turned out to be." Jezelle added. "Recently, some scientists back home picked up on a mysterious gaseous anomaly that left a trail leaving our home and towards the Trinity. Specifically, the outskirts of LazyTown."

"Uhh… what?" Robbie blinked rapidly, trying to keep up.

"Not too long ago we found an abandoned airship that had crashed into the mountains of Aðalsteinn but it wasn't the NX-07."

"Wait a minute, you're saying Berto ran away from home by commandeering the NX-07?" Sportacus was now puzzled.

"Yes." His father nodded. "He piloted the airship and crash landed here in LazyTown."

"No, no, that's impossible!"

"I can't be Sportakook's brother!" Robbie shrieked. "I already _have_ a family! A… a _foster _family."

Robbie suddenly remembered his past as a young boy growing up in the orphanage as the sounds of his nightmares began to chime in his head. Robbie slowly trekked his way towards the orange chair and pulled out his journal from the cushion, gently going through the pages until he found his latest entry.

"It all makes sense." He said under his breath.

"Robbie?" Rottenella put her arms around his waist and looked into his widened gaze. "Are you okay?"

"Am I really your brother?" He slowly turned to Sportacus.

The hero in blue remained silent for a moment, trying to process everything until another question popped in his head. "If he stole the airship, then where did it land? Why wasn't there a wreckage reported? Where is it?"

"We're in it." Hallbjörn said.

"What!?" Robbie broke out of his trance. "My lair is actually an airship!?"

"Of course. The night we came and took our DNA sample from you, we immediately recognized the interior of your lair."

"WHAT!?" Robbie's voice grew louder. "You mean _you_ were the one's who broke in, knocked me out and took my… my-my-my HAIR!!"

"Just the four of us." Amelie winked. "Me, Monsieur Salazar and your… _parents_."

"They are _not _my parents! They're not! They're--OH MOMMY!" Robbie suddenly hugged the blond woman. "Is it really you!? Oh please tell me I'm not dreaming! All my life I've wanted to meet you! And now you're here! Oh I'm so happy! I missed you! I don't remember you but I missed you! I--I--I--"

Robbie then realized something incredibly disgusting as he slowly backed away. "… I was checking you out! Oh, sick! Blech!" He gagged.

Sportacus still refused to believe any of it. "I still say he's not my brother."

"Magnus." Jezelle started. "Please don't--"

"I'm through here. I'm going back to the surface."

* * *

Later that day, Sportacus met with the mayor, Bessie, the Trinity Watch and his young friends as they stood on a hill that looked out across the yellow and red sky. There was trouble brewing somewhere out there in the world and they knew they were the only ones who could stop it. While a plan formulated in their minds, they paused to watch the sun go down and the moon come up.

"A storm's coming." Stephanie said. "Everything's going to change."

"It already has." Sportacus whispered.

"I don't know what Remus is up to now but we must find out where those amulets are."

Stephanie nodded as she took out the two medallions and held them close while Clyde and Sportacus placed the two halves of the map together.

"Now what?" Clyde asked.

In an instant, the two power gems began to glow and released a thin strand of energy that formed into one and scanned the entire map. Stephanie held onto the two amulets and watched as the magic beam moved about on its own until it broke apart again and encircled two different regions of the map.

"The first one's pointing to…" Ziggy leaned in closer. "…The Yawn River!"

"That must be where the Water amulet is." Astral concluded.

"I can't tell what that other region says." Pixel winced at the map.

"Uncle Sporty…" Clyde gasped. "That one says…"

"Aðalsteinn." The hero in blue finished the sentence as the magic beams faded out.

"Our home."

"Then the Wind amulet must be there." Said Demetrius.

"So that means we have to leave LazyTown again?"

"Maybe." Sportacus thought for a moment as he lowered his half of the map. "But I don't think we'll be alone this time."

"Sportacus, what are you suggesting?" Milford stepped in.

"Mayor…" He started. "We can't leave Stingy behind and fall victim to Remus and his goons. We have to go back for him."

"We?"

"All of us." Stephanie finally got the idea. "Together we can stop them for good."

"And together we will." Clyde nodded as he held Stephanie's hand.

"That's impossible." Milford shook his head. "You children still have school. I can't allow--"

"We'll finish the semester, Uncle." Stephanie said. "In the meantime, Sportacus can train us. Teach us everything he knows."

"He can teach us how to fight." Trixie beamed at the idea. "I don't know about you guys but I'm not gonna let Stingy go that easily."

"Neither of us are." Pixel agreed.

"What do you say, Milford?" Astral grinned.

"I…" He hesitated before remembering Demterius' words. "… I say good luck to you all."

"Thank you, mayor." Sportacus shook the man's hand.

"You know…" Clyde continued as he saw Robbie and Rottenella approach the hill. "Uncle Sporty… if we're going to need everyone, then we're going to need _everyone_."

Sportacus turned around and saw the two standing before him nervously. He noticed their hands interlocked with a ring on Rottenella's finger and couldn't help but smile.

"Getting married, huh?" He began.

"Yeah." Robbie chuckled. "Told ya I've changed."

"You love him?" He looked at the ballerina.

"I do." She said. "I really love him."

"Then…" He held out his hand for Robbie to shake. "…I'm happy for you."

"Th-thanks…" Robbie took Sporty's hand. "…So I hear you're planning something big. Need some extra help?"

"It wouldn't hurt."

As the gang huddled together with Stephanie in the middle, the young girl realized if there was anyone that was going to take out Remus, it was her. She looked up into the starry black sky as the moon stared back at them. She thought for a moment before realizing what was about to happen:

"_Moon shining down through the palms. _

_Shadows moving on the sand._

_Somebody whispering the 23d Psalm. _

_Dusty rifle in his trembling hands._

_Somebody's trying just to stay alive. _

_He got promises to keep. _

_Over the ocean in some strange new land,_

_Far away, the master sleeps."_

Stephanie and her friends then grabbed each other's hands as they sang out into the night, their voices high and mighty for all to hear:

"_Silent stars blinking in the blackness of an endless sky,_

_Gold, silver satellites, ghostly caravans passing by,_

_Galaxies unfolding and new worlds being born, _

_Pilgrims and prodigals creeping toward the dawn,_

_And it's a long road…"_

"_Out of Eden." _Stephanie finished the verse before she and the other turned away and headed back into town.

* * *

Elsewhere, beyond the Trinity and the Forbidden Zone, Remus and his band of evildoers gathered together inside a cavern, where Reiko Jynn-Khan stood before a bonfire. He moved his fingers about and focused on his magic when Remus approached him.

"We're tired of waiting, Reiko." He began. "When do we get to business?"

"Once I have reenergized." He said under his breath.

"We have no time for this!"

"We have plenty of time!" He snapped. "Do not test me, Remus. If you truly want to reawaken the Shadow Dragon, then I suggest you do exactly as I say."

"Very well." Remus sighed. "But how do we do it without the map? I need those other two amulets!"

"All in due time." Khan then pointed at Stingy's frozen statue. "They'll be back for him. And when they do, we'll be ready for them. But for now it's the Shadow Realm for us."

"For what?"

"Fool." Chameleon butt in. "The Shadow Realm is the only place he can go to recharge his magic."

"Worry not, Remus." Reiko smiled. "When we return, no one will stand in our way. Aðalsteinn will fall."

"Perhaps." He thought for a moment. "But there's only one solution I can think of. If we are to succeed in our mission and finally get what's coming to us, then this much is clear:

Stephanie must die."

**TO BE CONCLUDED**

_**A/N: That's right. That's the end of this story. Tense, huh? And I know most of you still have some questions you need answered but don't worry. I've got it all under control! The next story will be the epic FINALE of this series and EVERYTHING will be answered for sure. **_

_**SIDE NOTE: Another thing, I know this story was different since it was a musical and I know it was probably annoying at times but let me tell you why I did it. You see, folks, I probably never mentioned this to any of you but I'm majoring in theater in college right now. That's right, I'm a drama freak! Er, not really. But anyhow, I've been chosen to write and direct next year's musical for the school and I felt I needed to practice somehow. But where to do it? Then I realized 'why not do it here!?' Was it an epic fail? Maybe. But I know what I did wrong and I know what I can use for my final draft! **_

_**So thanks for being patient and understanding and for sending those reviews! Seriously, you guys rock! And now I must bid you adieu and prepare for the next and final installment in the Trinity series! Adios! **_

**DISCLAIMER: _(Yeah, I should have done this at the beginning but whatever...)_**

**_LazyTown created by Magnús Scheving, The Piranha Brothers and Camp It Up! sketches written by Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle & Terry Jones), and all songs by the Eagles (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh & Timothy B. Schmitt) _**


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